Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, (born March 8, 1714, Weimar, Saxe-Weimar [Germany]—died Dec. 14, 1788, Hamburg), second surviving son of J.S. and Maria Barbara Bach, and the leading composer of the early Classical period.

A precocious musician who remained successful, C.P.E. Bach was his father’s true successor and an important figure in his own right. In his autobiography he writes: “For composition and keyboard-playing, I have never had any teacher other than my father.” He studied law, taking his degree at Frankfurt in 1735, although he probably never had any intention of a career other than music.

In 1740 he was appointed harpsichordist to Frederick II of Prussia. Frederick was a good flutist and so fond of music that he had his court orchestra accompany him in concerti every night except Mondays and Fridays, which were opera nights. The subservience that he required from his distinguished harpsichordist grew irksome, but it was not until 1767 that Bach was able to resign his Berlin post to take up an appointment as music director at Hamburg. Meanwhile, he had married (1744), published his Versuch über die wahre Art das Klavier zu spielen (1753, rev. ed. 1787; Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments), and acquired an enviable reputation, as a composer, performer, and teacher.

Unlike his elder brother Wilhelm Friedemann, C.P.E. Bach was successful in assimilating the powerful influence of their father and in making the transition into the new style then evolving. This represented a break with the past such as has occurred in very few other periods of musical development. The monumental character of Baroque music gave way to a mercurial Romanticism, for which the favourite contemporary description was “sensitivity” (Empfindsamkeit). Bach became a leader of that movement but retained the advantage of a solid craftsmanship and assurance for which he always gave full credit to his father’s teaching and example.