Johann Christian Bach
J.C. is sometimes
referred to as "the
London Bach" or "the
English Bach,” having
spent time living in the
British capital, where
he came to be known
as John Bach. He is
noted for influencing
the concerto style
of Mozart.
The London Bach
C l a s s i ca l
H e r i tag e
Off the Cuff highlights
the musical lineage of
The Bach family
Born in 1710, Wilhelm
Friedemann Bach was
the second child and
eldest son of Johann
Sebastian Bach and
Bach’s first wife,Maria
Barbara Bach. Despite
his acclaimed genius as
an organist, composer,
and performer,
Wilhelm Friedemann
died in poverty.
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Just call me Willy
By C hristianna Mc C ausland
I
n February, the BSO will welcome a
guest conductor to the popular Off the
Cuff series when Nicholas McGegan,
music director of Philharmonia Baroque
Orchestra in San Francisco, takes the
podium in an all-Bach performance.
While most audience members will be familiar
with Johann Sebastian Bach’s works, the
performance will also feature works by two of
Johann Sebastian’s sons, highlighting a musical
lineage that extends across many generations.
◗ J.S. Bach was born in 1685, the son of a string
player, though there is evidence that musicians
were abundant in the Bach family even earlier.
J.S. himself wrote a family genealogy tracing his
musical heritage to his great-great-grandfather,
Veit Bach, who played the cittern (a string
instrument). When J.S.’s parents both died in
close succession, the young Bach lived with
his brother, a church organist who gave J.S. his
first lessons on keyboard instruments.
10 O v ertur e |
www. bsomusic .org
The Bach musical
family tree
The Bach legacy of musical genius spanned at least
four generations: J.S. himself wrote a family genealogy
tracing his musical heritage to his great-greatgrandfather, Veit Bach, who played the cittern (a string
instrument). Of J.S. Bach’s 20 children, at least four
showed musical prowess: Johann Christoph Friedrich,
Wilhelm Friedemann, Johann Christian (J.C.) and Carl
Philipp Emanuel (C.P.E.). Of these, J.C. and C.P.E. have
carved out their own place in musical history.
J.S. grew to be an eminent organist in his own
time as well as a composer in the baroque style. He is now considered to be one of the most important composers of all time with
his masterworks — including the Mass in B minor, Fugue in D
minor, and the Brandenburg Concertos, for example — comprising the lodestone of classical music. He pushed the boundaries
of what musicians could accomplish with their instruments, a
raising of the bar that impacted all composers to follow.
BSO Concertmaster Jonathan Carney explains that Bach’s
collection of sonatas and partitas for solo violin are “the Bible
for violinist