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Scan 122
Cyclopedia of music and musicians, 1888
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1but, being of a very convivial nature, he soon tired of the strict discipline and went in 1754 to Milan, where he became organist of the cathedral, and rapidly made himself popular with the masses by ministering to the fashionable taste, thus degrading and wasting his extraordinary talent. To be able to devote himself entirely to dramatic composition, he accepted a call to London in 1763, and won a brilliant, though not a lasting success. Almost immediately on his arrival, he was appointed music master to the queen and royal family. His operas found great favour through their melody and lively instrumentation, to which he imparted a novel charm by the more frequent use of wind instruments; he was also the first to abolish the frequent and tedious da capo in the great arias. That he did not lack the sense of the truly beautiful and sublime, in spite of his frivolous turn of mind, is proven by his few religious compositions and symphonies, characterized by a touch of grandeur. By his elegant style of composition he vastly promoted the love for pianoforte playing, and in his concertos essentially amplified the technique of the instrument. Works—Operas: Catone, given in Milan, 1758, London, 1764; Orione ossia Diana vendicata, Zanaide, London, 1763; Berenice, pasticcio (with Hasse, Galuppi, and Ferradini), ib., 1764; Adriano in Siria, ib., 1764; Carattaco, ib., 1767; Olimpiade, pasticcio, Vienna, 1769; Ezio, do., 1769; Siface, London, about 1771; Temistocle, Paris, 1772; Lucio Silla, ib., 1774; La clemenza di Scipione, Breslau, about 1733; Amadis des Gaules, Paris, 1779; Gioas, rè de Giuda, oratorio, King's Theatre, 1770. Cantatas: Die Amerikanerin; Rinaldo ed Armida; Amor vincitore; Aurora; Endimione (1772); The Intercession (1767); Salve Regina; Magnificat, for two voices and orchestra; Laudati pueri, for do.; Gloria for four voices and orchestra; Te Deum, and other church music; 15 symphonies for eight instruments; Symphonie concertante; 18 concertos for pianoforte; 6 quintets for flute and violin; 30 trios or sonatas for pianoforte, violin, and bass; 6 trios for violins; 6 quartets for do.; 2 quintets for pianoforte, flute, oboe, viola, and violoncello; Quartet for pianoforte, two violins, and bass; 12 sonatas for pianoforte; Sonata for four hands; do for two pianofortes.—Allgem. d. Biogr., i. 747; Allgem. Mus. Zeitg., viii. 811; Bitter, Carl Phil. Em. Bach, etc., ii. 140; Burney, iv. 480, 486; Fétis; Grove; Mendel; Schilling; Schubart, Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst, 201.
3BACH, JOHANN CHRISTOPH [10], born at Arnstadt, Dec. 8, 1642, died at Eisenach, March 31, 1703. The eldest son of Heinrich Bach [4]; studied under his father. He was called in 1665 to Eisenach, where he was appointed organist in several churches, notably the St. Georgenkirche. From 1696 to his death he had free lodgings in the mint, and was probably court organist after Pachelbel's resignation in 1678. On the 23d Sunday after Trinity, 1667, he was married to Maria Elisabeth Wedemann, whose father was town clerk at Eisenach. Johann Christoph was unquestionably the greatest of all the Bachs excepting Johann Sebastian [15]; he was not only one of the best organists and greatest contrapuntists of his day, but one of the most important composers of the whole 17th century. None of his works were published, and most of them have been lost, but they were held in the highest esteem by Sebastian Bach and his son Philipp Emanuel, and the few choral compositions of his that have been preserved
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