ABSTRACT
Among the members of the Bach family, Johann Christian (1735–1782) enjoyed the widest renown during the eighteenth century. Far more traveled than his father and brothers, he became the principal figure of a "Bach tradition" outside of Germany before the nineteenth century. This can be credited to his associations with important musical centers such as Milan, Naples, London, Mannheim, and Paris, and the broad dissemination of his music through prints and manuscripts. This chapter examines a single aspect of this tradition as an illustrative example of the diverse nature of Christian's sphere of influence: It investigates a group of symphonies preserved in manuscript parts at Göttweig Abbey in Lower Austria that belonged to the liturgical repertoire of this Benedictine monastery. These parts, most if not all of which date from the composer's lifetime, are unusual among eighteenth-century symphony source materials, for they record the uses of the music—that is, dates and places of performance.
