Coxspeak: C. P. E. BACH

The German composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was born in Weimar on 8th March, 1714. He was the second son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach. His godfather was the composer Georg Philipp Telemann, after whom he was named.

At the age of ten he became a pupil of the St. Thomas School at Leipzig, where his father was cantor from 1723 onwards.

In 1768 C.P.E. Bach succeeded Telemann as Kapellmeister in Hamburg. In 1769 he wrote an oratorio entitled Die Israeliten in der Wüste (The Israelites in the Desert). Bach's style, themes, and interest in the Old Testament show the influence of Handel's oratorios, in particular Messiah. Similarities have also been pointed out between his oratorio and Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah.

Between 1768 and his death in 1788 Bach wrote much church music. In his St. Matthew Passion he borrowed some of the music of his father's work of the same name.

He died in Hamburg on 14th December, 1788 and was buried in the Michaeliskirche (Church of St. Michael) in Hamburg.

Johannes Brahms was baptized in the same church.