Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach - Keyboard Sonata in F major, BR A 1

JCF Bach (1732-1795) was a harpsichordist and composer, the fifth son of Johann Sebastian Bach, sometimes referred to as the “Bückeburg Bach“. Born in Leipzig in the Electorate of Saxony, he was taught music by his father, and also tutored by his distant cousin Johann Elias Bach. He studied at the St. Thomas School, and some believe he studied law at the university there, but there is no record of this. In 1750, William, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe appointed Johann Christoph harpsichordist at Bückeburg, and in 1759, he became concertmaster. While there, Bach collaborated with Johann Gottfried Herder, who provided the texts for six vocal works; the music survives for only four of these. Bach wrote keyboard sonatas, symphonies, oratorios, liturgical choir pieces and motets, operas and songs. Because of Count Wilhelm’s predilection for Italian music, Bach had to adapt his style accordingly, but he retained stylistic traits of the music of his father and of his brother, C. P. E. Bach. He married the singer Lucia Elisabeth Münchhausen (1728–1803) in 1755 and the Count stood as godfather to his son Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach. . educated his son in music as his own father had, and Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst went on to become music director to Frederick William II of Prussia. In April 1778 he and Wilhelm travelled to England to visit Johann Christian Bach. J. C. F. Bach died 1795 in Bückeburg, aged 62. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica says of him “He was an industrious composer, ... whose work reflects no discredit on the family name.“ He was an outstanding virtuoso of the keyboard, with a reasonably wide repertory of surviving works, including twenty symphonies, the later ones influenced by Haydn and Mozart; hardly a genre of vocal music was neglected by him. The performance of this sonata is by me. Special credit to Gregory Stanton for setting the score and “translating“ the original, to me basically unreadable soprano clef to the usual treble clef. The publishing date is already 1770 and the sonata was composed at some point before that. It is contained in the set of Musikalisches Vielerley. I played all repetitions in this recording. The tempi are sometimes not quite stable, but it should give a good impression of what the nice music sounds like. 0:00 Allegro maestoso 9:35 Andante innocentemente 17:06 Allegretto