King Frederick the Great performing the flute with C.P.E. Bach
at the harpsichord and Franz Benda at the violin

18^th Century, POTSDAM, SANS SOUCI CASTLE, Prussia. At the court of KING FREDERICK THE GREAT, CHRISTIAN BENDA's forefathers, the three brothers FRANZ, GEORG and IAN BENDA, born near Prague, in Alt-Benatky, are active as the King's musicians and composers. All three brothers perform together with KING FREDERICK. FRANZ recalls having accompanied the King, an excellent flutist himself, in over 10,000 Flute Concerti. In a letter to his sister Wilhelmine dated Heidelberg, 22.8.1734, FREDERICK writes about FRANZ BENDA:"I have heard all violonists, in Mainz as well as in Darmstadt and Mannheim, but none of them reaches up to BENDA."

FRANZ BENDA, 1709-1786, creates the German Violin School and is King Frederick's Kapellmeister. In 1734, he personally meets JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH in Leipzig, who appreciates his compositions. They meet again in May 1747, when the old BACH visits the King and composes his MUSICAL OFFERING dedicated to FREDERICK. The first violinist to ever perform this piece is FRANZ. All BENDA brothers are colleagues of the King's harpsichordist, Johann Sebastian Bach's son, CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH, as well as of the flutist JOHANN JOACHIM QUANTZ and of the GRAUN BROTHERS, who all are working for the King. CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH writes about his father's taste in a letter to Forkel dated Hamburg, 13.1.1775: "At the end of his life, my father JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH greatly appreciated Haendel, the two Grauns, Telemann, BENDA, and generally everything worth of esteem in Berlin and Dresden. But for Haendel, he knew all of them personally."

Georg Benda, 1722-1795

1750, GOTHA. GEORG BENDA, 1722-1795, one of the most representative members of this family, creator of the melodrama, is being nominated "Hofkapellmeister" of the Duke of Gotha. 1778, after WOLGANG AMADEUS MOZART attends a representation of Georg's "Medea" in Mannheim, MOZART writes about him to his father: "You know that among the Lutheran Kapellmeister, BENDA always was my favorite and I like his works so much that I always bring them along with me when I'm travelling." BENDA inspires MOZART for his opera "Zaďde". 1795, Georg Benda dies in Köstriz, near Weimar.

All through German music history, many members of the Benda family have shown talent and collaborated with the best musicians of their time.

In the beginning of the 20^th Century in BERLIN, Germany, the conductor HANS VON BENDA creates and conducts THE BERLIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA. The violinist JEAN BENDA, CHRISTIAN BENDA's grandfather, becomes assistant to the French violin padagogue HENRI MARTEAU. In Berlin, JEAN BENDA is the founder and director of two Music Conservatories. He composes Violin Studies well known to most of the European violin students. He is a friend of MAX REGER and his compositions are highly appreciated by violinists such as ADOLPH BUSCH, JOSEPH SZIGETI, ARNOLD ROSE and JACQUES THIBAUD. JEAN BENDA's mother, JOHANNA BENDA, a child prodigy pianist, is a close friend to CLARA SCHUMANN with whom she plays four-handed. In his parent's home, JEAN BENDA is used to meet and hear musicians like EUGENE D'ALBERT, ANTON RUBINSTEIN, JOSEPH JOACHIM who are welcomed guests. From JEAN BENDA's marriage with the violist and poet DORA BENDA-HAMANN, a chamber music partner of the cellist HUGO BECKER, are born the violinist LOLA BENDA and the composer and pianist SEBASTIAN BENDA, a child prodigy, CHRISTIAN BENDA's father.

In the middle of the 20^th Century, the BENDA FAMILY moves from SWITZERLAND to BRAZIL, BAHIA. There, SEBASTIAN BENDA meets and marries the pianist LUZIA DIAS-BENDA who gives birth to five children, all professional musicians. After living for 30 years in South America, the family moves back to EUROPE.

Nowadays, in SWITZERLAND, ITALY, GERMANY and AUSTRIA, a dozen Benda musicians maintain the family's musical tradition concertizing throughout Europe, Japan and the Americas under the name of 'THE BENDA MUSICIANS' or each one as a soloist under his own name.

The distinguished members of this unusual family have been acclaimed by today's best musicians with whom they often collaborate, such as SALVATORE ACCARDO, PIERRE AMOYAL, PAUL BADURA-SKODA, LAZAR BERMAN, THE BRANDIS QUARTET, FRANCOIS-RENÉ DUCHABLE, CHARLES DUTOIT, PIERRE FOURNIER, BRUNO GIURANNA, BARBARA HENDRICKS, JEAN-JACQUES KANTOROW, YEHUDI MENUHIN, SHLOMO MINTZ, MURRAY PERAHIA,  JOSEF SUK, PAUL TORTELIER.

The BENDA FAMILY is the last dynasty of musicians having produced without interruption since the 18th century unnumerable professional artists. They are forming the longest dynasty ever existing in music history, lasting since three hundred and twenty years, overlasting now the famous BACH FAMILY's three hundred years of existence.