Bach
A Musical Biography

Peter Williams revisits Bach's biography through the lens of his music, revealing the development of the composer's interests and priorities.

Peter Williams (Author)

9781316504864, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 December 2019

720 pages, 2 maps 30 music examples
24.4 x 17 x 3.5 cm, 1.2 kg

'Bach: A Musical Biography represents an important addition to Bach scholarship, and is a vital possession for the serious Bach enthusiast.' John Robert Brown, Classical Music

J. S. Bach composed some of the best-loved and most moving music in Western culture. Surviving mostly in manuscript collections, his music also exists in special and unique publications that reveal much about his life and thoughts as a composer. In this book, Peter Williams, author of the acclaimed J. S. Bach: A Life in Music, revisits Bach's biography through the lens of his music. Reviewing all of Bach's music chronologically, Williams discusses the music collection by collection to reveal the development of Bach's interests and priorities. While a great deal has been written about the composer's vocal works, Williams gives the keyboard music its proper emphasis, revealing it as crucial to Bach's biography, as a young organist and a mature composer, as a performer in public and teacher in private, and as a profound thinker in the language of music.

Part I. Life and Works: 1. Early years, 1685–1703: background, family, studies
2. First appointments, 1703–1708: a young musician's activities and early works
3. Weimar, 1708–1717: the gifted player at a ducal court
4. Cöthen, 1717–1723: other opportunities for the maturing composer
5. Leipzig, the first years: a cantor's life, his duties, cantatas, Passions, publications
6. Leipzig, the middle years: other activities
7. Leipzig, the final years: a concentration on the language of music
Part II. Observations on the Life and Works: 8. What was said, what can be inferred
9. An epilogue.

Subject Areas: Biography: general [BG], Keyboard instruments [AVRG], Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH], Classical music [c 1750 to c 1830 AVGC4], Baroque music [c 1600 to c 1750 AVGC3], Music [AV]