Johann Christoph Bach (1671–1721)

Johann Christoph Bach (16 June 1671 – 22 February 1721) was a musician of the Bach family. He was the eldest of the brothers of Johann Sebastian Bach who survived childhood.

Life

Christoph was born in Erfurt, on 16 June 1671, a few months before the family moved to Eisenach, where Johann Sebastian was born fourteen years later as the last child.Spitta 1899
p. 174–175
/ref> In 1686, Johann Christoph was sent to Erfurt to study under Johann Pachelbel for the next three years.Spitta 1899
p. 183–184
/ref> By the end of his apprenticeship he was organist in the St. Thomas church in that town for a short time, followed by some months at Arnstadt where several Bach relatives lived.

In 1690, Johann Christoph became organist at the Michaeliskirche at Ohrdruf. In October 1694, he married Dorothea von Hof. His mother Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt had died earlier that year, and his father Johann Ambrosius Bach died in March the next year. Two younger brothers, Johann Jacob and Johann Sebastian, who up till then had been living with their father in Eisenach, came to live with Johann Christoph's family in Ohrdruf. At the time, Johann Jacob was thirteen, and Johann Sebastian not even ten. Johann Christoph's five sons were born between 1695 and 1713.Forkel/Terry 1920/2011, Table V p. 307

Johann Christoph became his youngest brother's keyboard teacher, or, at least, Johann Sebastian "laid the foundations of his wnkeyboard technique" under the guidance of his eldest brother. An anecdote is told by Johann Sebastian's early biographers:Spitta 1899
p. 186
/ref>

The brother had however not died "soon after". Having stayed with his brother for five years Johann Sebastian left Ohrdruf, joining the choir of St. Michael's Convent at Lüneburg. Around the time Johann Sebastian left Lüneburg a few years later he composed a Capriccio in E major in honor of his eldest brother, BWV 993. In the years that followed, Johann Christoph copied several compositions by his younger brother, such as those in the Andreas Bach Book, kept by one of his sons, and the Möller Manuscript.Stephen A. Crist. "The early works and the heritage of the seventeenth century", p. 75 ff. i
''The Cambridge Companion to Bach''.
edited by John Butt. Cambridge University Press, 1997.

All of Johann Christoph's sons became musicians, three of them at Ohrdruf. He died on 22 February 1721, aged 49, in Ohrdruf.

Family

Johann Christoph Bach was married Dorothea von Hof. They had nine children:

* (1695–1768), Court cantor in Gandersheim, organist in Pferdingsleben, 1722–1768 Cantor in Udestedt), in 1722 got married Susanna Elisabeth Wolckner (1699–1753), had four children.
* Christiana Sophia Bach (1697–1725), in 1722 got married Johann Christian Happe (1689–1761)
* Johann Bernhard Bach (1700–1743); organist at St. Michaelis in Ohrdruf
* Johann Christoph Bach (1702–1756); teacher and cantor in Ohrdruf
* Johanna Maria Bach (1705–1742)
* (1707–1783); organist and teacher in Öhringen
* Magdalena Elisabetha Bach (1710–1789), was married Ludwig Gottfried Möller (1700–1777)
* (1713–1779); teacher and organist in Ohrdruf
* Johann Sebastian Bach (b. 1713)

References

Sources

* Charles Sanford Terry. '' Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work''. Translated from the German of Johann Nikolaus Forkel. With notes and appendices by Charles Sanford Terry. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe. 1920.
* Philipp Spitta. '' Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany (1685–1750)'', translated by Clara Bell and J. A. Fuller Maitland. Volume I, 1899.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bach, Johann Christoph
1671 births
1721 deaths
German classical organists
German male organists
Johann Christoph
German male classical organists