March 24, 2008
CPE Bach is probably the most famous of all the children of J.S. Bach. That, in itself, is a pretty amazing thing considering that JS Bach had twenty children (half of whom survived to adulthood). And it’s even more amazing, since three of CPE’s brothers also became composers. Although CPE learned music from his Dad, he didn’t just continue the musical traditions of his father, he struck out in new directions.
By the time the elder Bach died in 1750, he was a dinosaur, and his musical style was way out of date. JS Bach’s kids were the wave of the future, writing in the Galant style and dabbling in the highly emotional Sturm und Drang movement. These pre-Classical styles reacted to the overly complex counterpoint of the Baroque period. Even though JS Bach’s sons tried to get him to compose in the new, simpler style, JS stuck with that complex counterpoint until the bitter end, composing The Art of the Fugue late in his life. Baroque music didn’t disappear with the death of JS, although that’s what some histories would have you believe. Some of CPE’s religious works draw upon his father’s style. And, in fact, sacred compositions through much of the Classical period maintained a lot of Baroque features, including basso continuo.
Whereas JS Bach was the culmination of the Baroque style, certainly not its father, CPE Bach has the distinction of being called the Father of Classicism. It was actually a title bestowed upon him by the man we consider to be the culmination of the Classical style, Mozart. (Beethoven also thought CPE was pretty cool.) The bulk of CPE’s famous work—and the stuff classical composers admired—were keyboard sonatas. CPE formed his own style in writing these, distinct from the earlier Italian and Viennese idioms. His most famous sonatas were the set he wrote for Frederick the Great, and the set he wrote for the Grand Duke of Wurttemberg. CPE Bach was influential on classical composers, but his influence reached further. Romantic composers like Felix Mendelssohn, Carl Maria von Weber, and Johannes Brahms drew inspiration from his clear and polished phrasing. The Romantics must also have appreciated his use of color and his sometimes very emotional writing.
In general, most people on the street can name Bach as a famous composer of “classical” music. The Bach they mean is Johan Sebastian. Folks who know about Bach’s sons are harder to come by. Ask someone on the street and they’ll likely know Mozart, and perhaps Haydn. What those people don’t realize is this: Mozart, Haydn, and the Classical style owe a great debt to CPE Bach. The development of the Classical style—not that the development of a new style was something CPE did consciously—grew out of his experiences with music from all over Europe, the teachings of his father, and his own compositional ideas. His clear and concise writing, delicate phrasing, and sensitive evocation of emotion spoke to young composers who came of age in the shadow of the High Baroque.
CPE Bach, so close to that shadow, managed not to be swallowed up by it. Even though JS Bach was not especially famous in his lifetime, he still left his sons some big shoes to fill. Undaunted, and certainly encouraged by his father, CPE stepped out of the shadows and stood on his own.