Saxe-Weimar
•
2 views
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Weimar, Saxe-Weimar
Archival Overview
Second surviving son of J.S. Bach, court harpsichordist to Frederick the Great, pioneer of the dramatic Empfindsamer Stil, and primary musical influence on Haydn and Mozart.
Biographical Record
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was the most famous and commercially successful of Johann Sebastian Bach's musical sons. Serving as court harpsichordist to King Frederick the Great of Prussia in Berlin and Potsdam for nearly three decades, he later succeeded Georg Philipp Telemann as director of music for Hamburg's five main churches.
C.P.E. Bach abandoned the strict Baroque polyphony of his father in favor of the 'Empfindsamer Stil' (Sensitive Style)—a dramatic aesthetic featuring sudden pauses, passionate mood swings, and proto-Romantic subjectivity. His keyboard treatise 'Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments' educated Mozart and Beethoven.
Key Life Milestones
Keyboard Playing Treatise
Published his definitive pedagogical work on keyboard technique, expression, and thoroughbass.
Director of Music in Hamburg
Succeeded Telemann as Hamburg's music director, composing groundbreaking symphonies and sacred oratorios.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
0 messages recordedLeave a Respectful Tribute
Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialHamburg, Free Imperial City of Hamburg