J.C. Bach Symphony in B-Flat, Op. 9, No. 1 [1773]

Symphony in B-Flat, Op. 9, No. 1 [1773]

Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782)

At the height of his popularity in the 1770s Johann Christian Bach (by then resident in London, where he was called JOHN Christian Bach) had won a European reputation second only to his older brother, Carl Philipp Emannuel Bach, who had been his principal teacher after the death of their father in 1750. Indeed, Johann Sebastian Bach himself was little known as a composer in his own lifetime, and only in the early 19^th century would gradual win his eventual position as one of the supreme figures in the history of western music. In his late teens J. C. Bach found his way to Italy, where he studied with the esteemed pedagogue, Padre Martini (who later would subject the teenaged Mozart to a battery of tests to prove his professional mastery). At the age of 25 Bach was appointed an organist at the cathedral in Milan (having converted to Roman Catholicism), an accomplishment which might be viewed as a rather ironic stage in the 200-year history of the Bach family as Lutheran church musicians! But Italy held a far stronger attraction to Bach as the land of opera, and it was in that field that he earned his fame. Within two years Bach made his way to London, where he was based for the rest of his life. There he was active as an opera composer, taught members of the royal family, and gained much notice as a keyboard virtuoso---even taking part in one of the earliest known public concerts featuring the as yet little-known “pianoforte.”

Bach was a composer of remarkable diversity and industry, composing a vast number of chamber works, keyboard compositions, concerti and symphonies. His keyboard concerti are of unusual historical importance, quite apart from their intrinsic quality, for these works were to have a powerful impact upon young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who met Bach when visiting London at the age of eight. Bach’s keyboard concerti carried on a tradition which had been established by J. S. Bach (who virtually Invented the solo keyboard concerto), and carried on into the early stage of composition for the pianoforte by C. P. E. Bach. Johann Christain Bach’s fluent Italian style, with its melting lyrical quality, often strikes modern listeners as “Mozartian, ” had a profound influence on the younger composer.

Some of those stylistic elements will be heard in this evening’s Symphony in B-flat, composed in 1773 (some nine years after Mozart’s encounter with Bach in London.) Scored for the standard orchestra of the day (pairs of oboes, horns, a bassoon and strings), the work follows the tradition of the Italian “sinfonia” (which originally formed the introductory music for an opera) in consisting of three movements. The opening Allegro Con Spirito springs into action with a fanfare-like first theme, with bustling string figuration soon swelling to a climax, then yielding to a lilting, lyrical second subject given to the oboes, with an energetic closing theme reminiscent of the opening theme. Development begins with material from the primary theme, the harmony darkening, moving into G Minor, with long sustained tones in the oboes over scurrying strings. The recapitulation is quite regular, with the closing theme becoming an energetic coda, with the sustained oboe passage returning to round out the movement.

The Andante (in E-flat major) is a simple three-part structure in triple metre, subdued, almost hymn-like in character, with a measured tempo somelike akin to a slow minuet. This is the sort of cantabile style in which J. C. Bach seems to prophesy the Mozart to come. There is a central section in C Minor, with the oboes in a prominent role, followed by a return of the opening section to bring the movement to a quiet close.

The Presto finale is a vivacious movement featuring a sprightly pricipal melody over a briskly trotting bassline. In the secondary theme the oboes adopt a “concertante” role (quite characteristic of Bach), continuing the lively repeated notes in a “drum bass” pattern. Development is brief, preoccupied with the principal theme, and as in the first movement, swings into the darker colours of G Minor. The recapitulation omits the principal theme, moving directly to the secondary theme, bouncing on to a lively conclusion.

NCO Concert