Publisher's Synopsis
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) was the most famous of all Johann Sebastian Bach's sons. Much of the existing literature on him is in German, and most of it takes the form of particular studies of individual genres: keyboard music, song, chamber music. This biography is the only recent attempt at a complete study of the life and works in book form.;The book provides a wide-ranging survey of the music, including much that is as yet unpublished. Particular care has been taken to set the music in its context. Hans-Gunter Ottenberg supplies a great deal of information about Bach's contacts with literary and philosophical figures, and about the social, intellectual, and aesthetic environment in which he worked. Unlike many earlier writers, the author assesses the empfindsamer Stil , of which Bach was the greatest exponent, on its own terms, and not simply as a prelude to Viennese Classicism. Even so, the question of Bach's larger historical significance is not neglected: the final chapter is devoted to his posthumous influence and reputation.;Readership: students of eighteenth-century music; those particularly interested in C.P.E. Bach; general readers.
