Bach and Abel
Donald Macleod discusses JC Bach's friendship in 18th-century London with composer Carl Friedrich Abel and painter Thomas Gainsborough.
Donald Macleod introduces music and stories from the life of Johann Christian Bach - today, his friendships with the German composer Carl Abel, and the painter Thomas Gainsborough.
They must have made quite a threesome - two German composers, Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel, and the English painter Thomas Gainsborough. Bach and Abel were housemates, and business partners, collaborating on a series of subscription concerts in Soho for twenty years. Gainsborough, famously boozy and passionate about music, was the third side of the triangle, risking their ridicule by performing for them, and swapping his paintings for his friends' instruments. Donald Macleod discovers what they got up to in 18th-century London.
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Music Played
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Carl Friedrich Abel
Sonata in G major K.149 for viola da gamba and continuo
Performer: Susanne Heinrich.- HYPERION : cda-672682.
- HYPERION.
- 12.
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Johann Christian Bach
Sinfonia concertante in G major C 45; T 286/4
Orchestra: Pratum Integrum.- CARO MITIS : CM-0022006.
- CARO MITIS.
- 1.
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Carl Friedrich Abel
27 Pieces K.186-212 for viola da gamba solo extract
Performer: Wieland Kuijken.- DENON : CO-75659.
- DENON.
- 5.
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Johann Christian Bach
Quartet in C major Op.19`1 for 2 flutes, viola and cello
Ensemble: Camerata Köln.- CPO : 999-579-2.
- CPO.
- 1.
Broadcasts
- Wed 7 Oct 200912:00BBC Radio 3
- Wed 7 Oct 200922:00BBC Radio 3
- Wed 30 Apr 201412:00BBC Radio 3
- Wed 30 Apr 201418:30BBC Radio 3
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