Biography
One of the foremost figures active at the same time as J.S. Bach was the composer and Kapellmeister Fasch. Across his output he produced vocal church cantatas, psalms, serenades, secular operas, and instrumental works cast as overtures, concertos, symphonies, and sonatas. The significance of Fasch’s music lies in the way it embodies the shift from the Baroque to the Classical era. As a youthful acquaintance of Telemann whose own son served as harpsichordist at the court of Frederick the Great and maintained ties to C.P.E. Bach, Fasch absorbed influences that are readily apparent. During his thirty-five-year tenure as Kapellmeister in Zerbst his scores nevertheless reached audiences in Prague and Vienna, revealing an originality of purpose and expression. Working in near isolation from wider musical currents, he drew on little beyond the handful of exceptional figures already present in his life. Wind instruments appear in his writing in fresh and inventive ways, integrated not as vehicles for true solo display but within lighter passages or recurring phrases.