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Scan 40
He Biographical Dictionary Of Musicians, 1939
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1B. arrived at Potsdam. He improvised upon the various Silbermann pianos in the palace, followed from room to room by the king and his musicians. The next day he tried the principal organs in Potsdam, improvising a 6-part fugue on a theme proposed by the king. He afterward wrote a 3-part fugue on this theme, a Ricercare in 6 parts, several canons inscribed "Thematis regii elaborationes canonicae," and a trio for flute, violin, and bass, dedicating the "Musikalisches Opfer" to the king. 1749, two operations to restore his sight, weakened by copying his own and other men's works and engraving his "Art of Fugue," left him totally blind and ruined his previous vigour. His sight was suddenly restored, July 10, 1750; but 10 days later he died of apoplexy. He dictated the choral "Vor deinen Thron tret' ich hiemit," shortly before his death.
2Among his distinguished pupils were Krebs, Homilius, Agricola, Kirnberger, Goldberg, Marpurg; J. Kasper Vogler; Altnikol, his son-in-law, and his sons for whom he wrote the "Klavierbuchlein," and the "Kunst der Fuge." He engraved on copper; invented the "viola pomposa" and the "Lauten-Clavicembalum"; he advocated equal temperament (vide D. D.), tuning his own pianos and writing "Das Wohltemperirte Klavier," to further the cause. This work (known in English as "The well-tempered Clavichord," or "The 48-Fugues") is a set of 48 preludes and fugues, two of each to each key, major and minor. The works are very chromatic and use the keys enharmonically. Some of his improvements in fingering still survive. Bach was little known as a composer during his life, and few of his works were published then. He was not indeed established on his present pinnacle till Mendelssohn took up his cause, in 1829; Franz was also an important agent in preparing his scores for general use. In 1850, a hundred years after his death, the BACH-GESELLSCHAFT began to publish his complete works. Many other Bach societies now exist. B.'s enormous list of works includes: VOCAL, 5 sets of church Cantatas for Sundays and feast-days, "Gottes Zeit ist die beste Zeit," etc., various secular cantatas, 2 comic cantatas, the "Bauern Cantate" and "Coffee-Cantate," a protest against the excessive use of the beverage, and Trauerode, on the death of the Electress of Saxony; [address hidden], incl. the St. Matthew, the St. John, and the St. Luke (doubtful); a Christmas Oratorio, in 5 parts; 4 small masses and the Grand Mass in B min.; motets; [address hidden]; [address hidden], numerous pieces for clavichord: inventions in 2 and 3 parts; 6 "small" French suites; 6 "large" English suites; Preludes and Fugues, incl. "Das Wohltemperirte Klavier"; the remarkable "Goldberg Variations"; pf.-sonatas with instrs., incl. 6 famous sonatas for pf. and vln.; solo sonatas for vln. and 'cello; solos, trios, etc., for various combinations of instrs., concertos for 1 to 4 pfs. vln. and other instrs., concertos with orch.; 6 notable "Brandenburg" concertos; overtures and suites, and fantasias, toccatas, preludes, fugues, and chorale-arrangements for organ. The modern-minded musicians of the twentieth century have found new formal and harmonic interest in B.'s works, and an entire school has used as its slogan, "Back to Bach," in an effort to throw off the influence of Romantic styles of thought and feeling. Such a work as his monumental "Art of the Fugue" has gained wide popularity in the concert-room, the latter arr. for orch. by W. Graeser, heard in Europe and U. S. often after 1926. The best biography of B. is by Spitta (Leipzig, 1873-80, 2 vols.; Eng. transl., London, 1884-85). Other memoirs by Forkel, Schweitzer, Parry, Pirro, C. S. Terry, Boughton, Buhrman and C. F. A. Williams. The Bach "Jahrbücher," pub. by Breitkopf & Härtel, also hold much material of value. Books on B.'s music have been issued in great numbers, incl. works by Fuller-Maitland, Grace, Iliffe, Prout, Riemann, Schweitzer, Whittaker and C. S. Terry.
4(2) Karl Philipp Emanuel ("the Berlin" or "Hamburg Bach"), Weimar, March (8?) 14, 1714—Hamburg (Sept.?) Dec. 14, 1788. Son of above (Johann Sebastian Bach). Studied philosophy and law at Leip-
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