Download Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Symphony No. 1 in D Major, W. 183 in D

PROGRAM NOTES
by Phillip Huscher
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Born March 8, 1714, Weimar,, Germany
Germany.
Died December 14, 1788, Hamburg,, Germany
Germany.
Symphony No. 1 in D Major, W. 183
Emanuel Bach—as
as he came to be known
known—was
was the most prolific and famous of Johann Sebastian Bach's
sons. Although he was born into the most musical family we have ever known
known—even
even his godfather was
the popular composer Georg Philipp Telemann
Telemann—Emanuel
Emanuel studied law at first. His father encouraged this,
it seems, perhaps determined that his son have the university education he himself lacked. All the while,
however, Carl Philipp Emanuel was also studying and performing music, and ffinally,
inally, in 1730, he began
composing under the watchful eye of his father. Clearly music was his calling. In later years, when he was
the most famous keyboard player in all Europe, the great historian Charles Burney described Emanuel,
seated at the clavichord,
rd, playing into the night like a man possessed: 'He not only played, but looked like
one inspired.' For nearly thirty years, Emanuel served as composer to Frederick the Great and then, in
1768, succeeded his godfather Telemann as music director in Hamburg
Hamburg,, one of the prized positions of the
day.
Phillip Huscher is the program annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
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change without notice.