was appointed organist in the Duomo of Milan, under an Italian name.[1] It would be difficult to mention a more categorical example of the conquest of the Germanic spirit by Italy.
And we are not speaking of second-rate men, having no other claim to our attention than the fact that they were the sons of a great man. Johann Sebastian's sons were themselves great artists, whom history has not placed in their proper rank. Like the majority of the musicians of this transition period, they have been unduly sacrificed to those who preceded them and those who followed them. Philipp Emmanuel, far in advance of his time and very imperfectly understood, excepting by a few, has rightly been described by M. Vincent d'Indy as one of the first direct forerunners of Beethoven. Johann Christian is hardly less important; from him derives not Beethoven, but Mozart.[2]
Another remarkable musician, who, even more than Philipp Emmanuel, was the precursor—one might almost say the model—of Beethoven, in his great sonatas and variations: Frederick Wilhelm Rust, a friend of Gœthe's, musical director to Prince Leopold III. of Anhalt, at Dessau, was seduced like the rest by the Italian charm.[3] He journeyed to
- ↑ See Max Schwartz, Johann Christian Bach, 1901.
- ↑ Max Schwartz points out the direct influence of Johann Christian Bach upon clavier music and opera, and above all upon the first of Mozart's symphonies. Mozart often speaks of Johann Christian in his letters. He declares that he "loves him with all his heart"; that he has "a profound esteem for him." Certain airs of Johann Christian's used to haunt him. He applied himself to rivalling him, to writing fresh melodies to the same words.
- ↑ See Wilhelm Hosäus: Frederick Wilhelm Rust (1882). Rust had been a pupil of Johann Sebastian's eldest son—Wilhelm Friedmann—who had best reserved his father's traditions. He also took lessons from Philipp Emmanuel. It is only of late that his artistic importance has been revealed, thanks to the publications of some of his compositions by one of his descendants.
