Alpha-Bach Soup
Bach is one of the best-known names in classical music. When WNED Classical announcers refer to Bach, they’re always talking about JS Bach (Johann Sebastian) – the alpha-Bach. Although several of JS’s sons became fine composers themselves, their names require modifiers; they’re never just Bach. You’ll hear WNED Classical announcers instead say WF Bach, CPE Bach, JC Bach, and on rare occasions, PDQ Bach.
JS Bach is the alpha-Bach. The father. The master. It’s impossible to overstate his importance in Western Classical Music history. He took all that was known about music up until his time, codified it, and made it better. Every composer since JS Bach has studied, learned from, and imitated him. A dozen of JS’s most famous pieces made our listener-created WNED Classical Top 100 List in 2022, including all six Brandenburg Concertos, his B-minor Mass, Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring, Toccata and Fugue in d-minor (that scary work for pipe organ), the Goldberg Variations, the St. Matthew Passion, and Wachut auf, or Sleepers Awake. JS Bach was German and lived from 1685-1750. He married twice and was the father of twenty children. Here’s a short video biography of JS Bach.
WF Bach (Wilhelm Friedemann) was JS Bach’s eldest son. He lived from 1710-1784. Although a musical genius like his father, he had a “difficult” personality and struggled to maintain steady employment. He also struggled with alcohol and died in poverty. I recall my music history professor asserting that WF was the most talented of the JS Bach sons. Below is a short video biography of WF Bach.
CPE Bach (Carl Philipp Emanuel) lived from 1714-1788. He was a highly influential composer who bridged the transition between JS’s Baroque style and the new Classical style of composers such as Haydn and Mozart. In fact, Mozart once said of CPE, “Bach is the father, we are the children.” You’ll notice that Mozart called CPE simply “Bach.” That’s because CPE Bach was more famous than JS at the time. Here’s a short video biography of CPE Bach, and a short video of one of his most famous pieces.
JC Bach (Johann Christian) was JS’s eighteenth child and youngest son. He lived from 1735-1782, dying before his two older brothers, WF and CPE. We sometimes call JC The London Bach or The English Bach because he spent so much of his career working in London.
JC met Mozart in 1764 and spent five months teaching him composition. Mozart thought highly of JC. Here’s one of JC Bach’s most famous symphonies. You’ll notice it sounds more like Haydn than it does Bach.
PDQ Bach (Pretty Damned Quick) is a fictional character created by contemporary American composer, Peter Schickele who once hosted a syndicated program on WNED-Classical called, Schickele Mix. His schtick is to perform “discovered” works by “the only forgotten son” of JS Bach. Listeners enjoy PDQ’s music for its unexpected titles, melodies, harmonies, rhythms, and other humorous surprises. Clever PDQ musical titles include The Stoned Guest (inspired by Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni), Fanfare for the Common Cold (inspired by Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man), Pervertimento for Bicycle, Bagpipes, and Balloons, and BACHanale. Here is Peter Schickele as PDQ Bach performing BACHanale.
So, as you can see, the Bach family is an alpha-Bach soup of letters. Keeping track of them can be tricky. Just remember that Bach with no modifying letters refers to JS Bach. The father. The alpha-Bach. All the others require modifying letters – WF, CPE, JC, or PDQ.
