Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/217

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BACH 197 where he remiiined about 20 years, and hence is often named in musical works " the Halle Bach." At the age of 37 he gave up his place, and departed to Leipsic, with nothing certain in view. During the remaining 17 years of his life, without a fixed position, he was a sort of vagabond, teaching and practising music in Brunswick, Gottingen, and Berlin, dying in a miserable condition at the age of 74. This man was recognized by all his contemporaries as the greatest musical genius then living. Unfortu- nately he was also a man of execrable temper, rude in his manners, almost brutal ; possessed of a professional pride which rendered him intolerable to other artists ; absent-minded in the highest degree ; and a drunkard. During his long residence in Halle he was a constant source of trouble at the church of which he was organist. When on his way thither, he would sometimes forget his errand and wonder why the bells were ringing; sometimes he would enter the church at one door, forget himself, and pass out at the other. He often gave the organ-blower the keys of the instru- ment in order that, in case of his forgetfulness, some one else might take his place. Sometimes he would forget himself while at the instrument, and play on until the patience of priest and people was alike exhausted. In consequence of a severe reproof upon such an occasion, the now old man gathered up his worldly pos- .sessions and went off to Leipsic. The works of Friedemann Bach are few in number, but these few are such as to cause every musician to de- plore the sad waste of genius and talent which his life exhibits. XIII. Karl Philipp Kmanuol, sometimes called the Hamburg Bach, third son of Johann Sebastian, born in Weimar, March 14, 1714, died in Hamburg, Sept. 14, 1788. In his childhood he was thoroughly grounded in music, practical and theoretical, and after- ward followed his brother Friedemann to the Thomas school and university in Leipsic. Like him, too, he studied jurisprudence there, and pursued the science further in Frankfort-on- the-Oder. In this city he founded and directed a musical society, which often sang composi- tions from his pen. At the age of 24 he re- moved to Berlin, where he lived privately till 1740, when he was appointed chamber musi- cian and accompanist to Frederick II. in that monarch's flute solos. In 1767 he accepted a call to Hamburg as music director. He was one of the most prolific composers of his time, and his works were popular to such a degree, that the list of those published during his life surpasses in extent that of any German com- poser until the appearance of Joseph Haydn. He was equally great in all departments of com- position except the lyric drama, in which he had no call to exert his powers. The choruses of his oratorio "Israel in the Wilderness," and of some of his more extended works for the church, place him nearer Handel, perhaps, in their power, beauty, and ravishing vocal effects, than any other composer. As a writer of songs, odes, and psalms, he surpassed all his contem- poraries, and some of his collections reached their 4th and 5th editions soon after their publication. As a symphonist and writer of chamber music he held the first rank. Like the works of Mozart and Beethoven at a later period, his were censured as being full of strange modulations, crudities, and difficulties ; but they made their way in spite of the crit- ics, and became the foundation upon which j Haydn erected his temple. While restrained within due limits by the example and instruc- tions of his father, he nevertheless made music j the medium of expression for the varying emo- ! tions of his naturally poetic spirit, and thoughts sublime, pathetic, and humorous are often com- I bined in a manner then utterly new and sur- prising. Haydn was a most diligent student of his works, and declared in his old age, when he stood in the musical world with no rival but Mozart, " For what I know, I have to thank Karl Philipp Emanuel Bach." dementi has the reputation of being the father of modern pianoforte playing. That great man, however, acknowledged in Bach his master. He became what he was through his study of Emanuel's works, and to him we owe the publication of many of them. The works of Bach for this instrument, trios, sonatinas with accompani- ment, concertos with orchestra, and sonatas, are numbered by hundreds, the motive of which he explained by saying, "In my opinion, the grand object of music is. to touch the heart, and this end can never be attained by the pianist by mere noise, drumming, and arpeggios, at all events not by me." His great work upon the pianoforte, the foundation of all the valu- able ones which have since appeared, was the Versuch ulter die wahre Art das Klavier zu spielen ("Essay on the true Art of playing the Harpsichord," first part, Berlin, 1759), which reached its third and improved edition before his death ; the second part, treating the accom- paniment and the free fantasia, was published in 1762. The basis of this work, as may naturally be supposed, was found in the in- structions and example of his father. It inter- prets and renders available the science of Se- bastian Bach. XIV. Johann Christoph Friedrieh, known as the Bilckeburg Bach, tenth son of Johann Sebastian, born in Leipsic in 1732, died Jan. 26, 1795. He studied jurisprudence like his brothers above named, and like them also afterward devoted himself to music. He received the appointment of kapellmeister at an early age from the duke of Lippe-Schaum- burg, and passed his life in his service' at Bilcke- burg. His compositions were very numerous, especially for the church, no festival being al- lowed to pass without a new work from hia pen. Although neither as a pianist nor as a composer reaching the rank of his two elder brothers, he was worthy of his name, and be- sides his salary received valuable presents and testimonials from his patrons. His published works consist principally of songs and chamber