Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782) was a German composer of the Classical era, the eighteenth child of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. After living in Italy for several years, Bach moved to London in 1762, where he became known as “the London Bach”. He is noted for playing a role in influencing the concerto styles of Haydn and Mozart. He contributed significantly to the development of the new sonata principle.
Johann Christian Bach was born to Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach in Leipzig, Germany. His distinguished father was already 50 at the time of his birth—an age gap exemplified by the sharp differences in the musical styles of father and son. Even so, father Bach instructed Johann Christian in music until his death in 1750. After his father’s death, he worked (and lived) with his second-oldest half brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who was twenty-one years his senior and considered at the time to be the most musically gifted of Bach’s sons.
Bach lived in Italy for many years starting in 1754, studying with Padre Martini in Bologna. He became organist at the Milan cathedral in 1760. During his time in Italy, he converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism and devoted much time to the composition of church music. In 1762, Bach travelled to London to première three operas at the King’s Theatre. That established his reputation in England, and he became music master to Queen Charlotte.
In 1764, Bach met with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was aged eight at the time and had been brought to London by his father. Bach then spent five months teaching Mozart in composition. Mozart arranged three sonatas from Bach’s Op. 5 into keyboard concertos, and in later life Mozart “often acknowledged the artistic debt he owed” to Johann Christian.
In 1765, J. C. Bach teamed up with his friend Karl Friedrich Abel to organize the “Bach-Abel Concerts”, which they conducted alternately, and at which they mainly performed their own compositions such as Bach’s symphonies. In 1764, he began composing operas again for the King’s Theatre, but failed to build on his previous success. In 1772 and 1774, he was commissioned to write operas in the German city of Mannheim, where he proved more successful. Amadis de Gaule, his first French-language opera, was premiered in Paris in 1779.
Although Bach’s music was popular in London, the status of the Bach-Abel Concerts waned. His fortunes declined when his steward embezzled most of his funds. In 1781, Johann Christian Bach became seriously ill, and he eventually died on 1 January 1782 in considerable debt in London.