General biography on C. P. E. Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach is the scion of the greatest musical family in history, case closed. Thus, despite the fact that he was also the son and grandson of professional musicians, no one doubts who is meant when one says “Bach.” Despite the fact that he had more than 20 children, several of which grew up to have musical careers of their own, no one thinks, for instance, that the Bethlehem Bach Choir in Pennsylvania has made its name performing the treasures of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (son #1), or that Johann Christian Bach (son #11) might be the hero of the local Bach Festival held each June at EMU. Today Bach means Johann Sebastian Bach.

But it wasn’t always that way. In fact, when Sebastian Bach died in 1750, the most famous and successful member of the clan was son #2, Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach. Emanuel had been chosen by crown Prince Frederick to join his retinue, which put the young composer alongside some of the most respected men in European culture. Of course, it is not surprising to find Emanuel Bach in such a prestigious post. His first teacher was his brilliant father, thus making the “nature versus nurture” question of behind Emanuel’s genius something of a moot point. He prospered quickly in his musical activities, though he entered university ostensibly to study law. A summons from Prince Frederick came in 1738 when Emanuel was just 24 years old. Two years later Frederick became King and moved to Berlin, and Emanuel continued in his service as principal harpsichordist. At this time he began composing influential sonatas for solo keyboard, pieces that were often highly experimental in both form and content. Emanuel Bach developed a lasting reputation for the bravery and idiosyncratic nature of his use of dissonance, chromaticism, and quicksilver changes of key.

By the early 1750s he was also gathering his aesthetic and technical observations into a treatise. The Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments is far more than a guide to the proper rendition of ornaments or how to realize composer’s tempo indications. It addresses fundamental notions of harmonic progressions, improvisation, expressivity through tone, and strategies for tastefully accompanying from figured bass lines. This last area was one in which Emanuel Bach had proven his mettle firsthand. Early in his tenure at Berlin, he was given the perilous honor of accompanying Frederick during the monarch’s own flute performances. Emanuel fulfilled his royal task admirably and was clearly productive in many other areas of activity. But after 20 years of low pay and the narrow scope of his official duties, he began to feel the urge to move on. In 1767 Frederick, though loathe to do so, released Emanuel Bach from his post. The latter stepped into the top job in Hamburg made vacant by the recent death of Georg Philip Telemann. The diverse demands and general artistic climate in Hamburg were much more to Emanuel’s liking, and he remained in that city for the rest of his life.

(c) Jason Stell