Johann Christian Bach was born on September 5, 1735, and died on January 1, 1782. He was a German composer from the Classical era and the youngest child of Johann Sebastian Bach. He learned music from his father and later from his half-brother, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, in Berlin. After studying in Berlin, he traveled to Italy to learn from a famous teacher named Padre Martini in Bologna. While in Italy, J.C. Bach was chosen to be an organist at the Milan Cathedral. In 1762, he became a composer for the King’s Theatre in London, where he wrote many successful Italian operas and was called "The English Bach." He helped create the sinfonia concertante form. He became one of the most important figures of the classical period and influenced the musical styles of well-known composers like Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Life
Johann Christian Bach was born in 1735 in Leipzig, Germany, to Johann Sebastian Bach and Anna Magdalena Bach. His father, Johann Sebastian Bach, taught him music during his early years. After his father passed away, Johann Christian moved to Berlin to continue his studies with his half-brother, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. At that time, Carl Philipp Emanuel was twenty-one years older than Johann Christian and was considered the most talented musician among his father’s children.
In 1754, Johann Christian traveled to Italy to study with Padre Martini in Bologna. In 1760, he became an organist at Milan Cathedral. During his time in Italy, he changed his religion from Lutheranism to Catholicism, possibly because of political reasons. He focused much of his time on composing church music, including pieces for a Requiem Mass, a Te Deum, and settings for a Latin Mass. His first major work was a Mass, which was performed and praised highly in 1757. In 1762, he traveled to London to premiere three operas at the King’s Theatre, including Orione on February 19, 1763. In 1764 or 1765, the castrato Giusto Fernando Tenducci, who became a close friend, performed the title role in Johann Christian’s opera Adriano in Siria at the King’s Theatre.
This success helped Johann Christian gain recognition in England, and he was appointed as the music teacher to Queen Charlotte. In 1766, he met Cecilia Grassi, a soprano who was eleven years younger than him, and they married soon after. They did not have any children. Johann Christian performed symphonies and concertos at the Hanover Square Rooms, which was London’s most important concert venue in the fashionable area of Mayfair. The wealthy residents of nearby Georgian homes attended his performances. A prominent literary group in London, which included Jane Timbury, Robert Gunnell Esq., Lord Beauchamp, and the Duchess of Buccleuch, was familiar with Johann Christian and regularly attended his events.
In 1777, Johann Christian won a significant legal case, Bach v. Longman, which showed that copyright laws in England applied to musical scores. Before this, Johann Christian had already requested proper recognition for his compositions when he first arrived in London in 1762. He was granted the exclusive right to publish his music for fourteen years.
By the late 1770s, his popularity and financial situation began to decline. When Johann Christian died on New Year’s Day in 1782, he was deeply in debt, partly because his steward had stolen his money. Queen Charlotte helped by covering the costs of his estate and provided a lifetime pension for his wife. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Pancras Old Church in London.
Works
The musical works of J. C. Bach are labeled with 'W' numbers, based on Ernest Warburton's Thematic catalog of his works (New York City: Garland Publishing, 1999). Bach's music includes eleven operas, along with chamber music, orchestral music, and keyboard compositions.
Legacy
In the fourth book of Charles Burney's General History of Music, there is a description of J.C. Bach's career.
There are two other people named Johann Christian Bach in the Bach family tree, but neither of them was a composer.
In 1764, Bach met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was eight years old and visiting London during the Mozart family's trip across Europe. Bach taught Mozart for five months about how to write music. Scholars such as Téodor de Wyzewa and Georges de Saint-Foix said Bach was "The only true teacher of Mozart." Mozart adapted three sonatas from Bach's Op. 5 into keyboard concertos. Later in life, Mozart often said he owed a debt of gratitude to Johann Christian Bach. When Mozart heard of Bach's death in 1782, he said, "What a loss to the musical world!"
J.C. Bach had a major influence on Mozart. Mozart's early symphonies showed a preference for wind instruments, which was inspired by Bach. J.C. Bach believed wind instruments should play their own melodies instead of just repeating parts played by other instruments. Mozart followed this idea. J.C. Bach's influence on Mozart was so strong that the slow movement of Mozart's Concerto K414 includes a musical idea from the overture of Bach's opera, La calamita de cuori.
J.C. Bach helped create a musical style called Sinfonia concertante. This form developed from the Baroque concerto grosso. The Sinfonia concertante influenced many of Bach's contemporaries, including Mozart and Haydn, and provided a model for future compositions.
The Bach-Abel concerts were a series of public performances that led to the creation of modern concert series. These concerts were organized with Carl Friedrich Abel, a German virtuoso viola da gamba player. The concerts began at Abel's home but grew in popularity, leading to performances in larger venues. They featured new works by Bach and Abel, as well as compositions by other musicians like Haydn, giving them a chance to perform publicly. Because the concerts required subscriptions, people paid in advance for a season's series, creating a regular audience. These concerts also allowed middle-class people to attend live classical music performances, which had previously been limited to private, aristocratic events. The Bach-Abel concerts became less popular over time and eventually ended due to changes in musical tastes and Bach's death.