JC Bach – Duet for Two Pianos in G Major – Mov. 1/2
♫ Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH (1735-1782) Duet for two pianofortes in G major Op. 15 1. Allegro Performed by Christopher Hogwood Christophe Rousset, pianofortes *Johann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as ‘the London Bach’ or ‘the English Bach’, due to his time spent living there. He is noted for influencing the concerto style of Mozart. Johann Christian Bach was born on September 5, 1735 to Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach in Leipzig, Germany. His distinguished father was already 50 at the time of his birth, which would perhaps contribute to the sharp differences between his music and that of his father. Even so, his father first instructed him in music until he died. After his father’s death, when Johann Christian was 15, he worked with his second oldest brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, considered at the time to be the most musically gifted of Bach’s sons. He enjoyed a promising career, first as a composer then as a performer playing alongside Carl Friedrich Abel, a notable player of the viola da gamba. He composed cantatas, chamber music, keyboard and orchestral works, operas and symphonies. Bach lived in Italy for many years starting in 1756, first studying with Padre Martini in Bologna and later with Giovanni Battista Sammartini. He became an organist at a cathedral in Milan in 1760. During his time in Italy he converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism. In 1762 …
