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JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH (1731 - 1798)
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Johann Christian Bach was born on September 5th 1735 in Leipzig. He was the youngest surviving son of
the famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach and Anna Magdalena, his second wife. His first musical training was naturally from his
father. When his father died in 1750, Johann Christian went to Berlin to live with his half-brother Carl Philip Emanuel.
In 1754 Johann Christian went to Italy to work for Count Agostino Litto in Milan. Here he became a pupil
of the celebrated Padre Martini, who came to regard him a son. He became a roman catholic convert and at a point organist of the
Milan Cathedral. In Milan he started composing operas.
In 1762 he went to London. He became a close friend to one of his fathers old pupils Carl Friedrich
Abel. The pair started a concert series, later named 'Hanover Square Concerts', mainly devoted to performing the modern music of
the day. In 1764 he met eight years old Mozart, to whom he became somewhat a rolemodel. He continued to write operas and was
generally at his highest in the 1770s.
Johann Christian Bach died January 1st 1782. He was buried at St. Pancras' churchyard. Partly as a result
of a dishonest housekeeper stealing his money, he left debts worth of 4000£.
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