The Cambridge Companion to Bach

Benefiting from the research of eminent Bach scholars, this 1997 Companion examines Bach's work in the context of his age.

John Butt (Edited by)

9780521587808, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 June 1997

344 pages, 8 b/w illus. 12 tables 27 music examples
24.4 x 17.3 x 2 cm, 0.68 kg

'All fifteen contributions by international experts in their fields are informative and stimulating.' Archiv für Reformationsgeeschichte

The Cambridge Companion to Bach, first published in 1997, goes beyond a basic life-and-works study to provide a late twentieth-century perspective on J. S. Bach the man and composer. The book is divided into three parts. Part One is concerned with the historical context, the society, beliefs and the world-view of Bach's age. The second part discusses the music and Bach's compositional style, while Part Three considers Bach's influence and the performance and reception of his music through the succeeding generations. This Companion benefits from the insights and research of some of the most distinguished Bach scholars, and from it the reader will gain a notion of the diversity of current thought on this great composer.

Part I. The Historical Context: Society Beliefs and World-View: 1. The Bach family Malcolm Boyd
2. Johann Sebastian Bach in the context of domestic politics in Electoral Saxony Ulrich Siegele
3. Music and Lutheranism Robin A. Leaver
4. Bach's metaphysics of music John Butt
5. 'A mind unconscious that it is calculating'? Bach and the rationalist philosophy of Wolff, Leibniz and Spinoza John Butt
Part II. Profiles of the Music: 6. The early works and the heritage of the seventeenth century Stephen A. Crist
7. The mature vocal works and their theological and liturgical context Robin A. Leaver
8. The instrumental music Werner Breig
9. The keyboard works: Bach as teacher and virtuoso Richard D. P. Jones
10. Composition as arrangement and adaptation Werner Breig
11. Bachian invention and its mechanisms Laurence Dreyfus
Part III. Influence and Reception: 12. Bach as teacher and model Stephen Daw
13. Changing issues of performance practice George B. Stauffer
14. Bach reception: some concepts and parameters Martin Zenck
15. Reinterpreting Bach in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Martin Zenck.

Subject Areas: Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH]