Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Born8 March 1714 (1714-03-08)
Weimar, Saxe-Weimar, Holy Roman Empire
Died14 December 1788(1788-12-14) (aged 74)
Hamburg, Holy Roman Empire
WorksList of compositions
Parents
RelativesBach family
Signature

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788),[1] also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach,[2] and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Baroque and Classical period composer and musician, the fifth child and second surviving son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach.

C. P. E. Bach was an influential composer working at a time of transition between his father's Baroque style and the Classical style that followed it. He was the principal representative of the empfindsamer Stil or 'sensitive style'. The qualities of his keyboard music are forerunners of the expressiveness of Romantic music, in deliberate contrast to the statuesque forms of Baroque music.[3] His organ sonatas mainly come from the galant style.[4]

To distinguish him from his brother Johann Christian, the "London Bach", who at this time was music master to Queen Charlotte of Great Britain,[5] C. P. E. Bach was known as the "Berlin Bach" during his residence in that city, and later as the "Hamburg Bach" when he succeeded Telemann as Kapellmeister there.[6] To his contemporaries, he was known simply as Emanuel.[7] His second name was in honour of his godfather Georg Philipp Telemann,[8] a friend of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Bach was an influential pedagogue, writing the influential "Essay on the true art of playing keyboard instruments", which would be studied by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, among others.[9]

  1. ^ EB (1911).
  2. ^ EB (1878).
  3. ^ Ratner (1980), p. 22.
  4. ^ Earnest, Wayne N. (1988). The Organ Sonatas of C.P.E. Bach: A Modern View. p. 18. In his organ sonatas Bach uses primarily the style galant
  5. ^ Hubeart Jr., T. L. (14 July 2006) "A Tribute to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach" Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  6. ^ Allison, John. "CPE Bach at 300: why he's more than just Johann Sebastian's son", The Telegraph, 26 January 2014.
  7. ^ "Carl Phillipp Emanuel Bach" ClassicCat.net [circular reference]
  8. ^ Exner, Ellen (2016). "The Godfather: Georg Philipp Telemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and the Family Business". Bach. 47 (1). Riemenschneider Bach Institute: 1–20. ISSN 0005-3600. JSTOR 10.22513/bach.47.1.0001. he was called "Philipp" after Telemann
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dammann was invoked but never defined (see the help page).