BACH. - A family of musicians, originally from Thuringia, whose progenitor is Veit, born ca. 1550 and died in 1619. The most notable among the elders was JOHANN CHRISTOPH, born at Arnstadt on 8 Dec. 1642 and died on 31 March 1703, a composer of vocal music, among which a Biblical History, and of organ chorales. But the most glorious of the family is JOHANN SEBASTIAN, born at Eisenach on 21 March 1685, died at Leipzig on 28 June 1750, a musician of universal fame. Left an orphan while still a child, he was initiated into the art by his elder brother Johann Christoph, organist at Ohrdruf. In 1703 he was for a few months a court musician, as a violinist, in the private chapel of Prince Johann Ernst of Saxony at Weimar and then organist in the new church at Arnstadt. In 1707 he accepted the post of organist in the church of St. Blaise at Mühlhausen. Hindered by conservative elements in his plans for the renewal of religious music, he returned the following year to Weimar as court organist and chamber musician to the duke, considerably improving his financial circumstances. In 1717 he moved to Köthen as Kapellmeister and director of the chamber music of Prince Leopold of Anhalt, where he composed, among other things, the six sonatas for violin and the six concertos known as the Brandenburg, so called because they were written for Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg. He left Köthen in the spring of 1723 to go to Leipzig, as successor to Kuhnau, in the capacity of Cantor, that is, director of the school of St. Thomas and director of the university's music, an office, therefore, inferior to the dignity of Kapellmeister. But he was probably driven to accept this situation by the necessity of enrolling his many children, by then grown, at the university. His exceptional merits were not appreciated during the long stay of 27 years in this city, and at times his disagreements with the school's rectors were not slight. He made numerous journeys, but in general he led a retired and austere family life, devoting more time to teaching. Despite the incomprehension of the citizens, the musician's fame spread throughout Germany, so that he was often visited and honored by many admirers passing through Leipzig. In his last years his near-sightedness worsened and after an operation performed on him in the winter of 1749-50 he lost his sight completely.
It is singular that a genius of such power did not have universal resonance among his contemporaries, who appreciated in him the performer, unrivaled as an organist and harpsichordist, rather than the composer. Having fallen into oblivion (but Mozart and Beethoven studied his works), the credit for his revival can be ascribed to Mendelssohn, who in 1829 conducted in Berlin the St. Matthew Passion; from then on began the studies that culminated in the great edition of his music (1851-1900), very little of which had been published during the composer's lifetime, and in the fundamental biography by Philipp Spitta (1873-1880).
B. is one of the artists who have most profoundly expressed religious feeling, a truly fundamental element of all his work; this character can be recognized also in his instrumental music, not only in the chorales, preludes and fugues for organ, but in all those very numerous compositions in which an austere inspiration dominates. He is the sovereign master of the fugue: from the Inventions in 2 and 3 voices to the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Musical Offering and the Art of Fugue, his supreme mastery in the contrapuntal style unfolds. The vocal compositions reveal the most varied and intense qualities of Bach's art: and immediately to be remembered are the sacred cantatas written for all the Sundays and solemnities of five whole years, on texts drawn from the Gospel or from sacred texts elaborated by certain poets, among them Neumeister; about two hundred have come down to us, many of them masterpieces of unequaled expressive felicity. Of the five great Passions in oratorio form only two remain, that according to St. John (1723), of predominantly mystical character, and that according to St. Matthew (1729), a superb dramatic conception, which in its broad architecture encloses grandiose tableaux and evocative episodes. Other qualities of Bach's art distinguish the Motets, the three Oratorios for Christmas, the Ascension and Easter. Although of Protestant confession, B. welcomed elements of inspiration from the Catholic rite, composing four Short Masses, the melodious Magnificat and that great Mass in B minor (1733-34), written for the Catholic court of Dresden, which stands among the highest religious conceptions of the art of all time.
Some sons of Johann Sebastian became distinguished musicians, not unworthy of their father's name: the firstborn WILHELM FRIEDEMANN, born at Weimar on 22 Nov. 1710 and died at Berlin on 1 July 1784, had a musical temperament of the first order; he was his father's favorite, and was organist from 1733 to 1746 in the church of St. Sophia at Dresden, until 1764 in that of St. Mary at Halle; he subsequently moved to many German cities, leading a disorderly life, contrary to the severe family tradition. Besides organ and instrumental music he composed: Heilig for choir and orchestra and a sacred cantata with symphony.
The secondborn CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL, called the Berlin or Hamburg B., born at Weimar on 8 March 1714, died at Hamburg on 14 Dec. 1788, studied at the Universities of Leipzig and Frankfurt on the Oder and there founded a choral school; having gone to Berlin in 1738, he became in 1740 chamber harpsichordist to Frederick II; in 1767 he succeeded Telemann as director of church music at Hamburg. He was a very prolific composer, especially versed in improvisation and in the art of thematic variation: of his there is much harpsichord, orchestral and chamber music, and in the religious field no fewer than 22 Passions, two Oratorios and numerous cantatas; as well as the celebrated theoretical work on harpsichord teaching Versuch über die wahre Art, das Klavier zu spielen.
The fourthborn JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH, called the B. of Bückeburg, born at Leipzig on 21 June 1732, died at Bückeburg on 26 Jan. 1795, first studied law, was from 1750 chamber musician and then Kapellmeister at Bückeburg until his death. Of the three oratorios written on a text by Herder, the Infancy of Jesus and the Resurrection of Lazarus (both of 1773) have come down to us; we also have the cantata Pygmalion, motets and instrumental music.
The youngest son, finally, JOHANN CHRISTIAN, called the Milanese or London B., born at Leipzig in 1735 and died at London on 1 Jan. 1782, was in 1754 at Milan master of the private chapel of Count Agostino Litta, who granted him the means to study counterpoint with Father Martini at Bologna. Having converted to Catholicism, he became in 1760 organist of the cathedral of Milan. In 1762 he went to London, where he was music master to the queen and joined with the violinist Abel in the management of a concert society that was of notable importance. Besides 11 Italian theatrical works and one French one, received with much success, he composed two Oratorios, numerous Masses, Motets, a Requiem and Te Deum, and every kind of instrumental music.