Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

Admirers of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach consider him in many ways the most original and interesting of the composer-sons of the great Johann Sebastian. Bach composed for small groups and the orchestra of his day, in addition to organ and piano. While his music fell generally into the transitional period between the Baroque and Classical eras, he is closest in temperament to J.S. Bach of all the sons, with his music lying in the Baroque tradition of harmonic elegance, but with a distinctive and personal style. Yet, more an able musician than an unusually gifted one, posterity has left Wilhelm Freidemann overshadowed by his younger brothers, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Christoph Friedrich, and Johann Christian.