Johann Sebastian Bach Holds A Singular Position In The History Of Music. A Uniquely Gifted Musician, He Combined Outstanding Performing Virtuosity With Supreme Creative Powers And Remarkable Intellectual Discipline. More Than Two Centuries After His Lifetime, Bach's Work Continues To Set Musical Standards. The Noted Bach Scholar Christoph Wolff Offers In This Book New Perspectives On The Composer's Life And Remarkable Career. Uncovering Important Historical Evidence, The Author Demonstrates Significant Influences On Bach's Artistic Development And Brings Fresh Insight On His Work Habits, Compositional Intent, And The Musical Traditions That Shaped Bach's Thought. Wolff Reveals A Composer Devoted To An Ambitious And Highly Individual Creative Approach, One Characterized By Constant Self-criticism And Self-challenge, The Absorption Of New Skills And Techniques, And The Rethinking Of Riches From The Musical Past. Readers Will Find Illuminating Analyses Of Some Of Bach's Greatest Music, Including The B Minor Mass, Important Cantatas, Keyboard And Chamber Compositions, The Musical Offering, And The Art Of Fugue. Discussion Of How These Pieces Work Will Be Helpful To Performers--singers, Players, Conductors--and To Everyone Interested In Exploring The Conceptual And Contextual Aspects Of Bach's Music. All Readers Will Find Especially Interesting Those Essays In Which Wolff Elaborates On His Celebrated Discoveries Of Previously Unknown Works: Notably The Fourteen Goldberg Canons And A Collection Of Thirty-three Chorale Preludes. Representing Twenty-five Years Of Scholarship, These Essays--half Of Which Appear Here Inenglish For The First Time--have Established Christoph Wolff As One Of The World's Preeminent Authorities On J.s. Bach. All Students, Performers, And Lovers Of Bach's Music Will Find This An Engaging And Enlightening Book. - Publisher. [pt.1.] Outlines Of A Musical Portrait -- New Perspectives On Bach Biography -- The Family -- Decisive Career Steps -- Employers And Patrons -- Buxtehude, Bach, And Seventeenth-century Music In Retrospect -- Bach, And Johann Adam Reinken: A Context For The Early Works -- Vivaldi's Compositional Art, Bach, And The Process Of Musical Thinking -- Bach And The Tradition Of The Palestrina Style -- [pt.2.] New Sources: Broadened Perspectives -- The Neumeister Collection Of Cholare Preludes From The Bach Circle -- Bach's Audition For The St. Thomas Cantorate: The Cantata Du Wahrer Gott Und Davids Sohn -- Origins Of The Kyrie Of The B Minor Mass -- The Reformation Cantata Ein Feste Burg -- The Handexemplar Of The Goldberg Variations -- Bach's Personal Copy Of The Schübler Chorales -- The Clavier-Übung Series -- Text-critical Comments On The Original Print Of The Partitas -- Bach's Leipzig Chamber Music -- New Research On The Musical Offering -- Bach's Last Fugue: Unfinished? -- The Compositiional History Of The Art Of Fugue -- The Deathbed Chorale: Exposing A Myth -- [pt.3.] Concepts, Style, And Chronology -- Chronology And Style In The Early Works: A Background For The Orgel-büchlein -- The Architecture Of The Passacaglia -- The Organ In Bach's Cantatas -- Apropos The Musical Offering: The Thema Regium And The Term Ricercar -- The Agnus Dei Of The B Minor Mass: Parody And New Composition Reconciled -- Principles Of Design And Order In Bach's Original Editions -- Toward A Definition Of The Last Period Of Bach's Work -- [pt.4.] Early Reception And Artistic Legacy -- On The Original Editions Of Bach's Works -- Bach's Vocal Music And Early Music Criticism -- On The Recognition Of Bach And The Bach Chorale: Eighteenth-century Perspectives -- The Extraordinary Perfections Of The Hon. Court Composer: An Inquiry Into The Individuality Of Bach's Music. Christoph Wolff. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes.

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