ABSTRACT
FEW composers have had better musical training than Johann Christian Bach, whose teachers included, in succession, his father Johann Sebastian, his half-brother Emanuel in Berlin, and Padre Martini in Bologna. He was born in Leipzig on 5 September 1735 and is thought to have been introduced to the keyboard by his father at an early age. This youngest son of Bach's second wife, Anna Magdalena, became a helpmeet by taking on certain secretarial tasks when declining health and poor vision beset his father. Bach designated Christian as the recipient on his demise of three "claviers," a bequest that was contested by his half-brothers Friedemann and Emanuel. It was Friedemann who escorted Christian to Emanuel in Berlin within a few months of their father's death (28 July 1750). Christian was never close to Friedemann. He held Emanuel in great respect. His favorite brother was Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, only three years his senior. Friedrich gave up his study of law at Leipzig University in early 1750, by which time their father was seriously ill, in order to take a position as chamber musician to Count Wilhelm of Schaumburg-Lippe at Bückeburg. His annual salary was only 200 thalers but it helped him to support the soon-to-be destitute Anna Magdalena. The count was a generous and knowledgeable patron of music. In 1751 he 4accepted the dedication of two famous trio sonatas by Emanuel, who may have been instrumental in securing the appointment.
