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Scan 42
A Biographical Dictionary Of Musicians, 1900
49 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. Printed page 28. See the scan on archive.org.
1monographs, particularly "G. Rossini, sa vie et ses œuvres" (Paris, 1865); contributor to "La France musicale," "Le Siècle," "La Presse," "Le Ménestrel," and (1859-70) femulletoniste to "L'Opinion nationale." He was a zealous partisan of the Italian school, and many of his criticisms are biassed.
3B
5Bab'bi, Christoph (Cristoforo), violinist; b. Cesena, 1748; d. Dresden, 1814. From 1780, leader in the Electoral orch—Works Symphonies, vln.-concertos, and quartets and duets f. flute.
7Babi'ni, Matteo, celebrated tenor; b. Bologna, Feb. 19, 1754; d. there Sept. 22, 1816. Pupil of Cortoni; début 1780. His great success brought him engagements in London, St. Petersburg, Vienna (1785), and Berlin. Settled in Paris, a court favorite, till the Revolution drove him back to Italy; in 1792 he was again in Berlin; 1796, in Trieste. He died wealthy.
9Bac'chius (Senior), Greek theorist (abt. 150 A.D.), two treatises by whom are still extant, publ. in Greek, Latin, and French by Mersenne, Meibom, Morel, and Bellermann.
11Bacfart (or Bacfarre), Valentin, a celebrated lutenist whose real name was Graew; b. Transylvania, 1515; d. Padua, Aug. 13, 1576. He lived alternately at the court of Vienna, and at that of Sigismund Augustus of Poland. Publ 2 works on lute-tablature (1564, '65).
13Bach is the name of the illustrious family which, during two centuries, supplied the world with a number of musicians and composers of distinction. History possesses few records of such remarkable examples of hereditary art, which culminated in Johann Sebastian.
15The genealogy of the family is traced to Hans Bach, born about 1561 at Wechmar, a little town near Gotha. Veit Bach, d. 1619, the presumed son of this Hans, and Caspar Bach, are the first of the family concerning whose musical tendencies we have any information. Veit was by trade a baker, and emigrated to Hungary; returning to Wechmar, he settled there as a miller and baker. His chief relaxation consisted in playing on the zither. His son, Hans, b. abt. 1580, d. 1626, was known as "der Spielmann," (i.e., "the player"), although he followed the supplementary occupation of carpet-weaver. He received instruction from the town-musician of Gotha, the above-mentioned Caspar Bach, supposed to be his uncle. As a travelling violinist, to be found at all the principal festivals, he was popular throughout Thuringia, and his three sons, Johann, Christoph, and Heinrich, inherited his ability. The Bach genealogy mentions a second son of Veit, presumably Lips Bach (d. Oct. 10, 1620), who also had three sons, who were sent to Italy, to study music, by the Count of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt. From Hans and Lips, the two sons of Veit, sprang the main branches of the Bach family, whose male members filled so many positions as organists, cantors, and Kapellmeister throughout Thuringia, that, in some instances, even after there had ceased to be any member of the family among them, the town-musicians were known as "the Bachs." When the families became numerous and widely dispersed, they agreed to assemble on a fixed date each year. Erfurt, Arnstadt, Steinach, and Meiningen were the places chosen for these meetings, which continued until the middle of the 18th century, as many as 120 persons of the name of Bach then assembling. The hours, interspersed with music, were devoted to the narration of their experiences, mutual criticism, encouragement and advice, and the examination of the compositions of each member, which eventually formed a collection known as the Bach Archives. A part of this interesting collection was in the possession of Karl P'h. E. Bach at the end of the 18th century.
17The principal members of the Bach family are enumerated below, in alphabetical order, with their chronological list-numbers.
192. BACH, Christoph
205. " Georg Christoph
213. " Heinrich
221. " Johann
238. " Ambrosius
2410. " Bernhard
2519. " Christian
266. " Christoph
279. " " "
2814. " " "
2918. " " Friedrich
304. " Egidius
3113. " Ernst
3212. " Ludwig
337. " Michael
3411. " Nikolaus
3515. " Sebastian
3617. " Karl Philipp Emanuel
3716. " Wilhelm Friedemann
3820. " Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst
401. Bach, Johann (eldest son of Hans), b. 1604; d. 1673. Org. at Schweinfurt, then at Suhl. In 1635, dir. of the "Raths-Musikanten"; 1647, org. of the church at Erfurt. Left MS. comp.s of considerable merit.
422. Bach, Christoph (2nd son of Hans, and grandfather of Johann Sebastian), b. 1613; d. 1661. Court and town-musician of Eisenach. Distinguished organist; left several organ-pcs. (in the R. Archives).
443. Bach, Heinrich (3rd son of Hans), b. Wechmar, Sept. 16, 1615; d. Arnstadt, July 16, 1692. From 1641, org. of Arnstadt ch. for 51 years. Left MS. organ-pcs., and hymn-tunes.
464. Bach, Johann Egidius (2nd son of Johann [1]), b. 1645; d. 1717. Succ. his father as municipal mus.-dir., and org. of the ch. at Erfurt. Left church-comp.s, among others the motet a 9 f. double choir, Unser Leben ist ein Schatten (1696).
485. Bach, Georg Christoph (eldest son of Christoph [2]), b. Eisenach, 1641; d. 1697. Cantor and comp. at Schweinfurt. His motet, Siehe, wie fein und lieblich, f. two tenors and
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