Bach, Johann Christoph

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Bach, Johann Christoph

Bach, Johann Christoph, eldest son of Heinrich, organist and composer of the highest distinction among the earlier Bachs; b. Arnstadt, Dec. 3, 1642; d. Eisenach, March 31, 1703. From 1663 to 1665 he was an organist in Arnstadt, and from 1665 in Eisenach, where, from 1700, he was court musician. A thematic catalogue of his compositions was publ. by M. Schneider in the Bach-Jahrbuch (1907, pp. 132-77). C.P.E. Bach described him as a “great and expressive composer”. His works are printed in Das Erbe deutscher Musik (vols. I and II, Leipzig, 1935); several of his motets were publ. by V. Junk (Leipzig, 1922); 44 chorales with preludes for organ were ed. by M. Fischer (Kassel, 1936); 3 additional such works attributed to him were ed. by C. Wolff in The Neumeister Collection of Chorale Preludes from the Bach Circle (Yale University Manuscript LM 4708) (facsimile ed., New Haven, 1986); his Praeludium und Fuge for Organ is in D. Hellmann, ed., Orgelwerke der Familie Bach (Leipzig, 1967).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire