Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel

Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel (fē`lĭp ĕmä`nĕl bäkh), 1714–88, German composer; second son of J. S. Bach, his only teacher. While harpsichordist at the court of Frederick the Great, where his chief duty for 28 years (1738–67) was to accompany the monarch's performances on the flute, he wrote an important work on technique, Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments (1753, tr. 1949). After this artistically unsatisfying service with Frederick, Bach succeeded his godfather, Georg Philipp Telemann, as musical director at Hamburg. His 2 volumes of sonatas (1742–43) and his 20 symphonies established the typical classical forms of such works and powerfully influenced both Haydn and Beethoven. He also composed other keyboard music and sacred choral music. His craftsmanship was outstanding in the period between the baroque and classical periods.

Bibliography

See biography by E. Eugene Helm (1989).

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Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel

C.P.E. Bach, engraving by A. Stöttrup

(credit: Courtesy of Haags Gementemuseum, The Hague)

(born March 8, 1714, Weimar, Saxe-Weimar—died Dec. 14, 1788, Hamburg) German composer. Second son of Johann Sebastian Bach, he received a superb musical education from his father. In 1740 he became harpsichordist at the court of Frederick II the Great, where he remained for 28 years, after which he moved to Hamburg to take the city's leading musical position. He was a leader of the Empfindsamkeit (“sensitivity”) movement, which emphasized rhapsodic freedom and sentiment. A founder of the Classical style, he is one of the first composers in whose works sonata form becomes clearly evident. He wrote some 200 works for harpsichord, clavichord, and piano (including dozens of sonatas), some 50 keyboard concertos, many symphonies, and several oratorios and Passions. His Essay on the True Manner of Playing Keyboard Instruments (1753) was a highly important practical music treatise.