Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach

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Image:Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach.jpg Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (June 21, 1732 – January 26, 1795), the ninth son of Johann Sebastian Bach, sometimes referred to as the "Bückeburg Bach". He is not to be confused with Bach's first cousin once removed, Johann Christoph Bach.

Born at Leipzig, Germany, he was taught music by his father. He studied at the St. Thomas School, and some believe he studied law at the University there, but there is no record of that. In 1750, Count Wilhelm of Schaumburg-Lippe appointed Johann Christoph harpsichordist at Bückeburg, and in 1759, he became Konzertmeister. While there, Bach collaborated with 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 educated his son Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach in music as his own father had, and Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst went on to become music director to Frederick William II of Prussia.

The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica says of him "He was an industrious composer, ... whose work reflects no discredit on the family name." Professor Peter Schickele, in comparing his alter ego, the fictitious composer P. D. Q. Bach, to Johann Sebastian's other sons, said that P.D.Q. possessed "the obscurity of Johann Christoph Friedrich."

Sadly, a significant portion of J. C. F. Bach's output was lost in the WWII destruction of the Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung in Berlin, where the scores had been on deposit since 1917. Bach's work shows him to have been a transitory figure in the mold of his half-brother C. P. E., his brother Johnn Christian, the Grauns, and Georg Philipp Telemann, with some works in the style of the high Baroque, some in a galant idiom, and still others which combine elements of the two, along with traits of the nascent classical style.