Bach

Bach
Author: Christoph Wolff
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 484
Release: 1991
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780674059269

More than two centuries after his lifetime, J. S. Bach's work continues to set musical standards. Noted Bach scholar Christoph Wolff offers new perspectives on the composer's life and remarkable career.

The World of the Bach Cantatas: Johann Sebastian Bach's early sacred cantatas

The World of the Bach Cantatas: Johann Sebastian Bach's early sacred cantatas
Author: Christoph Wolff
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 252
Release: 1997
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780393041064

The cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach are among the best known and most frequently performed musical works of the Baroque period. In an illuminating discussion of the musical, literary, aesthetic, and theological aspects of the composers early cantatas, leading Bach scholars place the works in their historical and biographical context. 85 photos.

An Introduction to Bach Studies

An Introduction to Bach Studies
Author: Daniel R. Melamed
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 202
Release: 1998-04-30
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0198028555

This volume is a guide to the resources and materials of Bach scholarship, both for the non specialist wondering where to begin in the enormous literature on J. S. Bach, and for the Bach specialist looking for a convenient and up to date survey of the field. It describes the tools of Bach research and how to use them, and suggests how to get started in Bach research by describing the principal areas of research and citing the essential literature on each piece and topic. The authors emphasize the issues that have engaged Bach scholars for generations, focusing on particularly important writings; on recent literature; on overviews, collections of essays and handbooks; and on writings in English. Subjects covered include bibliographic tools of Bach research and sources of literature; Bach's family; Bach biographies; places Bach lived and worked; Bach's teaching; the liturgy; Bach source studies and the transmission of his music; repertory and editions; genres and individual vocal and instrumental works; performance practice; the reception and analysis of Bach's music; and many others. The book also offers explanations of important and potentially confusing topics in Bach research, such as the organization of the annual cantata cycles, pitch standards, the history of the Berlin libraries, the structure of the critical commentary volumes in the Neue Bach Ausgabe, and so on. This book opens up the rich world of Bach scholarship to students, teachers, performers, and listeners.