“April the 16th 1776, Lord Fauconbery sent me a ticket for Bach and Abel’s Concert at the assembly room in Hanover Square.

"The performers were the two above mentioned, the second played a solo exceeding well. In all about 22 musicians; this concert is reckoned the best in the world, everything executed with the greatest taste and exactness; a very fine room; very elegantly painted.

"It was almost full, everybody dressed; between the acts they go in another room underneath where you have tea; it is by subscription; it begins at 8 and ends at 10. Everything is very elegant.”

This entry is from the diary of Edward Piggot, and the Bach he is speaking of is Johann Christian Bach. J.C. Bach had a few handles such as “the London Bach," “the English Bach,” “Christian Bach,” and “John Bach."

English Bach’s father was Johann Sebastian Bach, but papa Bach was 50 years old when Christian Bach was born and died when Christian was 15 years old. Christian lived with his older half-brother, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, for a few years after their father’s death but soon went to study composition in Italy.

In 1762 Christian Bach was commissioned to write two operas for the King’s Theatre in London. Soon after the commission he was given the position of music master to Queen Sophie Charlotte of England.

In 1764 he started the subscription concerts referenced above and was the dominant composer in Europe by maintaining a presence in Paris and Mannheim and London.

Why isn’t Christian Bach a household name? His style fell out of taste and his accomplishments were eclipsed by his superstar student—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIxGhxFoWEo