Composer. He was the only grandson of Johann Sebastian Bach to achieve fame as a musician. His symphonies, cantatas and chamber music were firmly in the Classical style of Haydn and Mozart. Bach was born in Bueckeberg, Germany, where his father, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, was the longtime music director. He studied briefly in Hamburg with his uncle, C.P.E. Bach, and for three years in London with Johann Christian Bach, before receiving his first conducting appointment at Minden in 1786. In 1788, King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia heard Bach's cantata "Westphalens Freude" in Berlin and hired him as Kapellmeister to Queen Elisabeth Christine; following her death he served in the same position to Queen Luise and as music instructor to the Prussian Royal Family until his retirement in 1811. Bach had three children, a son who did not survive infancy and two daughters who never married; thus when he died at 86, the Bach musical dynasty, which had spanned some 250 years, came to an end. He seemed to accept this philosophically. "Heredity," he said, "can tend to run out of ideas."
Composer. He was the only grandson of Johann Sebastian Bach to achieve fame as a musician. His symphonies, cantatas and chamber music were firmly in the Classical style of Haydn and Mozart. Bach was born in Bueckeberg, Germany, where his father, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, was the longtime music director. He studied briefly in Hamburg with his uncle, C.P.E. Bach, and for three years in London with Johann Christian Bach, before receiving his first conducting appointment at Minden in 1786. In 1788, King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia heard Bach's cantata "Westphalens Freude" in Berlin and hired him as Kapellmeister to Queen Elisabeth Christine; following her death he served in the same position to Queen Luise and as music instructor to the Prussian Royal Family until his retirement in 1811. Bach had three children, a son who did not survive infancy and two daughters who never married; thus when he died at 86, the Bach musical dynasty, which had spanned some 250 years, came to an end. He seemed to accept this philosophically. "Heredity," he said, "can tend to run out of ideas."
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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