| Gottfried Heinrich Bach | |
| Birth Date: | 26 February 1724 |
| Birth Place: | Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony |
| Death Date: | 12 February 1763 (funeral) |
| Death Place: | Naumburg, Electorate of Saxony |
| Nationality: | German |
| Known For: | Child of Johann Sebastian Bach |
| Parents: | Johann Sebastian Bach (father) Anna Magdalena Bach (mother) |
Gottfried Heinrich Bach (born: 26 February 1724 - funeral: 12 February 1763) was a child of Johann Sebastian Bach and the firstborn son of his second wife Anna Magdalena Bach. He was born in Leipzig, where his parents had moved the year before his birth.
Gottfried Heinrich became "feeble-minded" (careless, shallow)[1] at an early age, but in his childhood he played the keyboard well and C. P. E. Bach is quoted as saying that he showed "a great genius, which however failed to develop".[2]
After the death of his father in 1750 Gottfried Heinrich continued to live with his mother Anna Magdalena Bach. He received financial support from the town.[3] His mother died in 1760. It is not known why Gottfried Heinrich was buried in Naumburg in 1763. At this time his sister Elisabeth Juliana Friderica Altnikol had not lived there for some years.[4] She had moved from Leipzig to Naumburg when she married Johann Christoph Altnikol in 1749, where her husband was employed as an organist. After his death in 1759 she returned to Leipzig with her two daughters.[5]