Here's something you might be interested in.
“Herr Johann Christian Bach, music master of the queen, took Wolfgang between his knees. He would play a few measures; then Wolfgang would continue. In this manner they played entire sonatas. Unless you saw it with your own eyes, you would swear that just one person was playing.”
This entry from the diary of his sister describes an incident from the 8-year-old Wolfgang’s first trip to London. Wolfgang’s father, Leopold, wrote of the same trip, “What he [Wolfgang] had known when he left Salzburg is nothing compared with what he knows now; it defies the imagination.”
Christian Bach’s influence on the young Mozart continued until his death in 1782, a mere nine years before Mozart’s own death. Perhaps influence is the wrong word. Christian Bach retained Mozart's admiration even when Bach's music fell out of style.
On one occasion another composer stuck his foot in his mouth by deriding Christian Bach’s music to Mozart. The composer was Johann Christoph Vogel and he was complaining about Bach’s opera Lucia Silla
Mozart wrote to his father often and in one letter he was bemoaning Vogel’s sloppy musicianship when the topic of Christian Bach came up. ““Why, he (Vogler) even belittled Bach to me. Bach has written two operas here … with regard to Lucia Silla he [Vogler] stated, ‘Why of course, that hideous aria by Bach, that filthy stuff.’ … I thought I should have to seize his front hair and pull it hard….”
I'm not exactly sure what "front hair" is but Mozart's dedication appears obvious.
Christian Bach was rediscovered in the 20th Century in the same way his father was rediscovered, by Mendelssohn, in the 19th Century. However, Christian Bach obviously doesn’t have the same reputation his father has.
The two clips below exhibit some of the similarities in the music of Christian Bach and Mozart. The Bach was written sometime before 1769. The Mozart was written in October of 1773 and is a masterpiece of the Classical Period of music.
The scale and development of Mozart’s music exceeds Bach’s and is probably the reason Christian Bach was forgotten for 150 years.
Bach Symphony No. 6 in g minor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDzX0zE-2k0&feature=fvst
Mozart Symphony No. 25 in g minor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyNi19dceMo
Musical examples and quotes are from Adena Portowitz’s “The J.C. Bach – Mozart Connection”.
“Herr Johann Christian Bach, music master of the queen, took Wolfgang between his knees. He would play a few measures; then Wolfgang would continue. In this manner they played entire sonatas. Unless you saw it with your own eyes, you would swear that just one person was playing.”
This entry from the diary of his sister describes an incident from the 8-year-old Wolfgang’s first trip to London. Wolfgang’s father, Leopold, wrote of the same trip, “What he [Wolfgang] had known when he left Salzburg is nothing compared with what he knows now; it defies the imagination.”
Christian Bach’s influence on the young Mozart continued until his death in 1782, a mere nine years before Mozart’s own death. Perhaps influence is the wrong word. Christian Bach retained Mozart's admiration even when Bach's music fell out of style.
On one occasion another composer stuck his foot in his mouth by deriding Christian Bach’s music to Mozart. The composer was Johann Christoph Vogel and he was complaining about Bach’s opera Lucia Silla
Mozart wrote to his father often and in one letter he was bemoaning Vogel’s sloppy musicianship when the topic of Christian Bach came up. ““Why, he (Vogler) even belittled Bach to me. Bach has written two operas here … with regard to Lucia Silla he [Vogler] stated, ‘Why of course, that hideous aria by Bach, that filthy stuff.’ … I thought I should have to seize his front hair and pull it hard….”
I'm not exactly sure what "front hair" is but Mozart's dedication appears obvious.
Christian Bach was rediscovered in the 20th Century in the same way his father was rediscovered, by Mendelssohn, in the 19th Century. However, Christian Bach obviously doesn’t have the same reputation his father has.
The two clips below exhibit some of the similarities in the music of Christian Bach and Mozart. The Bach was written sometime before 1769. The Mozart was written in October of 1773 and is a masterpiece of the Classical Period of music.
The scale and development of Mozart’s music exceeds Bach’s and is probably the reason Christian Bach was forgotten for 150 years.
Bach Symphony No. 6 in g minor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDzX0zE-2k0&feature=fvst
Mozart Symphony No. 25 in g minor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyNi19dceMo
Musical examples and quotes are from Adena Portowitz’s “The J.C. Bach – Mozart Connection”.