r of opera, he
was in 1762 invited to London and there spent the rest of his life. For
twenty years he was the most popular musician in England, his dramatic
works, produced at the King's theatre, were received with great cordiality,
he was appointed music-master to the queen, and his concerts, given in
partnership with Abel at the Hanover Square rooms, soon became the most
fashionable of public entertainments. He is of some historical interest as
the first composer who preferred the pianoforte to the older
keyed-instruments; but his works, though elegant and pleasing, were
ephemeral in character and have been deservedly forgotten.

A full account of J. C. Bach's career is given in the fourth volume of
Burney's _History of Music_, and a catalogue of his compositions in an
article by Max Schwarz, published in the _Sammelbaende_ of the
_Internationale Musik-Gesellschaft_, Jhrg. ii. p. 401.

(W. H. HA.)

BACHARACH, YAIR (1639-1702), German rabbi, was the author of _[H.]awwoth
Ya[=i]r_ (a collection of _Responsa_) and other works. Bacharach was a man
of wide culture, and holds an honourable place among the pioneers of the
Jewish Renaissance which was inaugurated towards the end of the 18th
century.

BACHARACH, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine Province, romantically
situated on the left bank of the Rhine, 30 m. above Coblenz on the railway
to Mainz. Pop. 2000. There is an interesting church, a basilica, dating
from the beginning of the 13th century. There are also ruins of a Gothic
church of the 13th and 15th centuries. The ruined castle of Stahleck,
crowning the heights above the town, is celebrated in history as the scene
of the marriage between Henry, eldest son of Henry the Lion (shortly before
the latter's death in 1195) and Agnes of Hohenstaufen, which effected a
temporary reconciliation between the houses of Welf and Hohenstaufen. Other
ruined castles are those of Fuerstenberg and Stahlberg. All three belonged
to the counts palatine. The wines of Bacharach were once held in the
greatest esteem, and it is still one of the chief markets of the Rhenish
wine trade.

BACHAUMONT, LOUIS PETIT DE (1690-1771), French litterateur, was of noble
family and was brought up at the court of Versailles. He passed his whole
life in Paris as the centre of the _salon_ of Madame Doublet de Persan
(1677-1771), where criticism of art and literature took the form of
malicious gossip. A sort of register of news was kept in a jour