Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (22 November 1710 – 1 July 1784), the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach, was a German composer and performer. Despite acknowledged genius as an organist, improviser and composer, his income and employment finally became unstable and he died in poverty. Wilhelm Friedemann (hereafter W.F. or Friedemann) was born in Weimar, where his father was employed as organist and chamber musicia... more

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (22 November 1710 – 1 July 1784), the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach, was a German composer and performer. Despite acknowledged genius as an organist, improviser and composer, his income and employment finally became unstable and he died in poverty. Wilhelm Friedemann (hereafter W.F. or Friedemann) was born in Weimar, where his father was employed as organist and chamber musician to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar. In July of 1720, when W.F. was nine, his mother Maria Barbara Bach died suddenly; Johann Sebastian Bach remarried in December of 1721. J. S. Bach supervised Friedemann's musical education and career with great attention. The graded course of keyboard studies and composition that J. S. Bach provided is documented in the Clavier-Büchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (modern spelling: Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach), with entries by both father and son. This education also included (parts of) the French... less