Bach, Karl Philip Emmanuel

Bach, Karl Philip Emmanuel son of Johann Sebastian, was born at Weimar, March 14, 1714. He was the most gifted musician of this most eminent family next to his father, and is generally designated the Hamburg Bach. He studied at the Thomas School and afterwards at the University of Leipsic, devoting himself to jurisprudence. In 1738 he went to reside in Berlin and was appointed chamber-musician to Frederick the Great. In 1767 he left his position at court and accepted the post of Capellineister at Hamburg, where he spent the last twenty-one years of his life, and died Sept. 14, 1788. His most ambitious work of a sacred character is The Israelites in the Wilderness, but most of his music was written for the harpsichord.