CPE Bach described his father’s house as “like a pigeonry, and just as full of life”, with Johann Sebastian keeping an open house where “no master of music was likely to travel through [Leipzig] without making my father’s acquaintance and letting himself be heard by him”. Bach was a genial host, in contrast to his combative relationship with authority. The complex character behind the music we admire so greatly was not always so well regarded during his life, and it was often his rivals who enjoyed the greater success. This program places the genius of Bach’s music beside the composers who most impacted his life and work.