The Children's Bach, Op. 74, is a chamber opera by the Australian composer Andrew Schultz to a libretto by Glenn Perry, based on the 1984 novella of the same name by Helen Garner. The work was commissioned by the Melbourne-based group Chamber Made and their artistic director Douglas Horton with the aid of an Australia Council Project Fellowship; it premiered for a run of 15 performances at the Malthouse Theatre's Merlyn Theatre on 20 June 2008.^[1]

The opera was performed and recorded at the 2019 Canberra International Music Festival, conducted by Roland Peelman.^[2] The Lyric Opera of Melbourne and Theatre Works gave the work its second full staging in August/September 2024.^[3][4]

The work is of 80 minutes duration and is scored for a cast of six, and six instrumentalists (violin, cello, double bass, clarinet, percussion, piano).

The Children’s Bach is a contemporary story set on the banks of Merri Creek in inner-suburban Melbourne. Dexter and Athena live in a ramshackle house with no TV and an outside loo. But they are comfortably happy although life with their disabled son, Billy, has taken its toll. Against this family crashes another; Phillip, Elizabeth and Vicki: urbane, musical and stylish. And like most crashes there’s collateral damage.

— from the program notes^[5]

• Usher, Robin (17 July 2008). "A novel approach to modern opera". The Age. Retrieved 21 June 2008.^{[dead link‍]}
• Burch, Peter (24 June 2008). "Between the lines". Review. The Australian. Retrieved 28 June 2008.^{[dead link‍]}