Johann Christian Bach (1735 – 1782) was a German
composer of the Classical era, the eighteenth child of
Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven
sons. After a spell in Italy, Bach moved to London in
1762, where he became known as "the London Bach". He is
also sometimes known as "the English Bach", and during
his time spent living in the British capital, he came
to be known as John Bach. He is noted for playing a
role in influencing the concerto styles of Haydn and
Mozart. He contr...(+)
Johann Christian Bach (1735 – 1782) was a German
composer of the Classical era, the eighteenth child of
Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven
sons. After a spell in Italy, Bach moved to London in
1762, where he became known as "the London Bach". He is
also sometimes known as "the English Bach", and during
his time spent living in the British capital, he came
to be known as John Bach. He is noted for playing a
role in influencing the concerto styles of Haydn and
Mozart. He contributed significantly to the development
of the new sonata principle.
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—an age gap exemplified by the sharp differences
in the musical styles of father and son. Even so,
father Bach instructed Johann Christian in music until
his death in 1750. After his father's death, 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.
Bach lived in Italy for many years starting in 1750,
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 music for a Requiem Mass and a
Te Deum. His first major work was a Mass, which
received an excellent performance and acclaim in 1757.
In 1762, Bach travelled to London to première three
operas at the King's Theatre, including Orione on 19
February 1763. In 1764 or 65 the castrato Giusto
Fernando Tenducci, who became a close friend, created
the title role in his opera Adriano in Siria at King's.
That established his reputation in England, and he
became music master to Queen Charlotte. In 1766, Bach
met soprano Cecilia Grassi, who was eleven years his
junior, and married her shortly thereafter. They had no
children. J. C. Bach performed symphonies and concertos
at the Hanover Square Rooms on the corner of Hanover
Square and Hanover Street. This was London’s premier
concert venue in the heart of fashionable Mayfair. The
surrounding Georgian homes offered well-to-do clientele
for his performances.
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. One of London’s primary
literary circles, which included Jane Timbury, Robert
Gunnell Esq., Lord Beauchamp, and the Duchess of
Buccleuch, was acquainted with Bach, and members were
regular attendees at his events. By the late 1770s,
both his popularity and finances were in decline. By
the time of Bach's death on New Year's Day 1782, he had
become so indebted (in part due to his steward
embezzling his money), that Queen Charlotte stepped in
to cover 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.Johann
Sebastian Bach had four sons who followed in his
musical footsteps. He taught all four: Wilhelm
Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Christoph
Friedrich, and Johann Christian. Bach died when Johann
Christian was only 15, so his older brother Carl
Philipp Emanuel took over his musical education. Those
two were considered the most talented and accomplished
of the sons.
Johann Christian Bach was living in London when he met
little 8-year-old Wolfgang Mozart. Up until that point,
Mozart’s father, violinist and violin textbook author
Leopold Mozart, was his primary teacher. J.C. spent
about 5 months teaching the child composition, and at
least two biographers considered him Mozart’s “only
true teacher.” Young Mozart arranged some of J.C.’s
music and acknowledged the “artistic debt he owed”
to him.
This, the Sonata in G Major for 2 keyboards aptly named
"Wolfys Duet" as it was performed in duet by both Bach
and Mozart at the court of King George III in 1764.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Christian_Bach)
Although originally written for Harpsichord Duet, I
created this arrangement of Sonata in G Major (Wolfy's
Duet) for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC