Johann Christian Bach - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Johann Christian Bach

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 January 1, 1782)

was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh surviving
child and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is
sometimes referred to as "the London Bach" or "the English
Bach", due to his time spent living in the British capital, where
he came to be known as John Bach.[1] He is noted for
influencing the concerto style of Mozart.

Contents
1
2
3
4
5

Life
Legacy
Works
References
External links

Johann Christian Bach, painted in

London by Thomas
Gainsborough, 1776 (National
Portrait Gallery, London)

Life
Johann Christian Bach was born to Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach in Leipzig,
Germany. His distinguished father was already 50 at the time of his birth, which would perhaps
contribute to the sharp differences between his music and that of his father. Even so, his father first
instructed him in music and that instruction continued until his death. After his father's death, when
Johann Christian was 15, he worked (and lived) with his second-oldest half brother Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach, who was twenty-one years his senior and considered at the time to be the most
musically gifted of Bach's sons.
He enjoyed a promising career, first as a composer then as a performer playing alongside Carl
Friedrich Abel, the notable player of the viola da gamba. He composed cantatas, chamber music,
keyboard and orchestral works, operas and symphonies.
Bach lived in Italy for many years starting in 1756, studying with Padre Martini in Bologna. He
became organist at the Milan cathedral in 1760. During his time in Italy, he converted from
Lutheranism to Catholicism and devoted much time to the composition of church music, including
two Masses, a Requiem and a Te Deum.[2] His first major work was a Mass, which received an
excellent performance and acclaim in 1757.[2] In 1762, Bach travelled to London to premire three
operas at the King's Theatre, including Orione on 19 February 1763. That established his reputation

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in England, and he became music master to Queen Charlotte.

He met soprano Cecilia Grassi in 1766 and married her shortly
thereafter. She was his junior by eleven years. They had no
children.
By the late 1770s, his music was no longer popular and his
fortunes declined. His steward had embezzled almost all his
wealth and Bach died in considerable debt in London on New
Year's Day, 1782.[3] Queen Charlotte covered the expenses of
the estate and provided a life pension for Bach's widow. He was
buried in the graveyard of St. Pancras Old Church, London.[1]
(http://www.burial.magic-nation.co.uk/bgstpancrasnorth.htm)

J. C. Bach's memorial,
St Pancras Churchyard, London

Legacy
A full account of J. C. Bachs career is given in the
fourth volume of Charles Burney's History of Music.
There are two others named Johann Christian Bach
in the Bach family tree, but neither was a composer.

Sinfonia in G minor, Op. 6, No. 6

I. Allegro
0:00

MENU

Performed by Camerata Budapest,

Hanspeter Gmur (conductor),
courtesy of Naxos Records

Mozart, when aged 8, met Johann Christian Bach in

London and became an admirer of his music. Mozart
Problems playing this file? See media help.
arranged three sonatas from the latter's Op. 5 into
keyboard concertos. In later life Mozart "often acknowledged the artistic debt he owed" to Johann
Christian.[4]

Works
References
Notes
1. Eric Siblin The Cello Suites: J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a ... 2011, p. 234. "Known as
the 'London Bach', he travelled to Italy, converted to Roman Catholicism, and enjoyed celebrity status in
England, going by the name John Bach. Only fourteen years old when Bach died, Johann Christian
apparently occupied a ..."
2. "The Catholic Bach" (http://www.canticanova.com/articles/ot/artc61.htm), Cantica Nova Publications
3. Stephenson, Joseph. Johann Christian Bach (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0002132738) at
AllMusic
4. Denis Arnold and Basil Smallman, "Bach family", in Oxford Companion to Music, ed. Alison Latham,
Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 80. ISBN 978-0-19-866212-9

Sources

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Hans T. David, A. Mendel, C. Wolff. The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach
in Letters and Documents (NY: Norton, 1998).
Heinz Grtner (trans. by Reinhard Pauly). John Christian Bach: Mozart's Friend and Mentor.
(Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1994).
Philipp Spitta (trans. by Clara Bell & J. A. Fuller-Maitland). Johann Sebastian Bach, his work
and influence on the music of Germany, 16851750, 3 vols. (London: Novello & Co., 1899):
Vol I (https://archive.org/details/johannsebastian03maigoog), Vol II (https://archive.org/details
/johannsebastian01maigoog), Vol III (https://archive.org/details/johannsebastian04maigoog)
Charles Sanford Terry. John Christian Bach (London: Oxford University Press, 1967).
Christoph Wolff et al. The New Grove Bach Family. (NY: Norton, 1983) pp. 315ff. ISBN
0-393-30088-9.
Percy M. Young. The Bachs: 15001850 (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1970).

External links
Information

Wikimedia Commons
has media related to
Johann Christian
Bach.

J C Bach (http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst
/bachjc.php) (classical.net)
J C Bach (http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer
/2112.html#tvf=tracks&tv=about) (classicalarchives.com)
J C Bach (http://www.pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=1860) (pianosociety.com)
Article: "Gainsborough and Music" by (http://www.earlymusicworld.com/id1.html) Brian
Robins
Music
Free scores by Johann Christian Bach at the International Music Score Library Project
Piano sonatas Op. 17, 16 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBwgdUkX-Bs) on YouTube
Concerto in D major, Op. 13, No. 2, 1st movement (https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=DKNc_1ZaE0Y) on YouTube
Quartet in B-flat major (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGtGcs0z-0c) on YouTube
Flute sonatas, W. B 1015 (http://hdl.handle.net/1802/4643), 1780 edition (From the Sibley
Music Library Digital Scores Collection)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Johann_Christian_Bach&
oldid=742084188"
Categories: German classical composers Classical-period composers Bach family
German opera composers Converts to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism
German Roman Catholics 1735 births 1782 deaths 18th-century German people
German expatriates in England Burials at St Pancras Old Church

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18th-century classical composers Pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach

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