C P E Bach (“Emanuel Bach”) 1714 – 1788 Son of J S Bach

Mozart said of Emanuel Bach: “He is the father, we are the children. Those of us who know anything at all learned it from him……”
By the time of Mozart, “the great Bach” meant Emanuel Bach, now normally known as C P E Bach. He was a professional musician from the age of twenty-four, for many years at the Berlin court of Frederick the Great and later in the City of Hamburg.
He played a major part in the evolution of classical music from the late Baroque period of his father,J S Bach,to the age of Haydn, Mozart and others. As for J S Bach, he said that he composed for the greater glory of God. His music was polyphonal, with several tunes combining together in glorious harmony: this included the many fugues he wrote.
By the later periods of the century, J S Bach’s works were seen as the “old music”. In his famous essay on keyboard playing, Emanuel Bach spoke of the need for “speaking” passages: sensitive playing directly expressive of feelings. This was at the time of the Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) movement in poetry and music: characterised by emotional intensity, abrupt dynamic changes and unpredictability. (It may perhaps be that the old certainties rooted in religion were under challenge in the Age of Enlightenment.)
Emanuel Bach’s music incorporates sensitivity and Sturm und Drang. It is closer to Vivaldi than to J S Bach. Those who like Vivaldi my well like C P E Bach even more.
I did not really discover his works until 2014, the 300th anniversary of his birth, when recordings of his music were given much publicity. I was amazed and moved by what I heard. After all these years it still sounded revolutionary to me: full of vitality, colour, sensitivity, virtuosity and drama. I see what Mozart meant. Haydn was also impressed and influenced by him.

There are obvious echoes of C P E Bach in Haydn’s music with its surprises and humour, in that of Mozart with its drama, originality and expressiveness and in the passion and mood changes found in Beethoven’s music.

Let us not ignore the great J S Bach, but give due credit to the massive contribution of his second son to the development of classical music.

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