Johann Christian Bach - Symphony Op. 6, No. 4 (c. 1766)

Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782) was a German composer of the Classical era, the eighteenth child of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. After a spell in Italy, Bach moved to London in 1762, where he became known as "the London Bach". He is also sometimes known as "the English Bach", and during his time spent living in the British capital, he came to be known as John Bach. He is noted for playing a role in influencing the concerto styles of Haydn and Mozart. He contributed significantly to the development of the new sonata principle.

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Symphony in E-flat major Op. 6, No. 4 W.C. 10 (1766 or earlier)

1. Allegro di molto (0:00)
2. Andante (3:07)
3. Presto (4:58)

The Hanover Band conducted by Anthony Halstead

Editor: Ernest Warburton (1937–2001)

Also issued by S. Markordt (as Op. 8 No. 5) and Sieber (1774, as Op. 11 No. 2). Hummel's edition and the others differ slightly in 1st movement.

The Symphonies Op. 6 composed in the 1760s (definitely before 1769), were almost certainly on the programmes of the concerts that Bach and fellow composer and impresario Carl Friedrich Abel put on in their series of prophetic and fashionable concerts at Carlisle House in London’s Soho, then St James, and finally at the bespoke concert room they had built at Hanover Square. JC Bach – the “London” Bach: Johann Christian had moved to Britain in 1762, initially to write operas for the King’s theatre, and was music master to Queen Charlotte, but subsequently focused on concertos and symphonies – arguably did more to cultivate an appetite and an audience for instrumental music than anyone else of his time. Consisting mostly of Bach’s own music, the performances became essential events in Georgian London’s social and cultural calendar,

J.C. Bach’s music was designed to appeal to its audiences. His tunes, his simple harmonies and his innovative use of orchestral color were all supposed to enliven, entertain and elevate his listeners when they first heard his new pieces. But that deliberate attempt to make instrumental music an embodiment of instantaneous feeling and passion instead of the intellectual rigor and contrapuntal complexity of an earlier era – above all, that of Bach’s father, Johann Sebastian, and in London the imposing legacy of Handel – was much more sophisticated than posterity would give him credit for. After his death, Bach’s music was scarcely heard in the 19th century, yet in his day JC was among the most famous composers in Europe. But somebody who did realize how Johann Christian was opening up new possibilities for the expressive potential of instrumental music was Mozart, who heard Bach’s music when he came to London in 1764 at the age of 8. Mozart arranged Bach’s music, he played at the keyboard with him – and the young man's own music was transformed by the encounter. Mozart later memorialized JC Bach in the slow movement of his A major piano concerto, K414, produced just after he had heard the news of Bach's death in 1782, basing the piece on one of the elder composer's overtures. “What a loss to the musical world!” he wrote. It was JC Bach, much more than Haydn, who was the most important influence on the young Mozart’s style and ideas about the form.