ABSTRACT
John Christian Bach was the only member of his famous family to write operas. His emergence as a composer for the stage was the result of good fortune and the right temperament—coupled possibly with the wish to rebel against the family tradition. After his father's death in 1750, and a period of study in Berlin with his brother Carl Philipp Emanuel, he went to Italy in 1754, working for a time under Padre Martini in Bologna. His apprenticeship was over in 1757 and he began to prepare himself, following the wishes of his patron (Count Agostino Litta of Milan), for a career as a Catholic church musician. In 1760, during the negotiations over his appointment as organist of Milan Cathedral, he was travelling to hear the singers taking part in his first opera, commissioned for the next Turin season.
