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Bach The Borrower (Routledge Revivals)
by Norman CarrellOriginally published in 1967, in this book the author delves deeply into the fascinating field of Bach’s music and the reasons for his ‘borrowing’, and adaptation within his oeuvre. This book, scrupulously uncontroversial in its manner, contains evidence which upends many established judgements. Whether concerned with Bach’s artistic personality or with details of his performance, this voluminous record, with commentary, of his adaptations, recompositions or transcriptions is an essential work of reference. When it was first published much of the information on the Choralgesänge and the chorals contained in or intended for the Orgelbüchlein was available for the first time in English.
The Bach Choir: The First Hundred Years
by Basil KeenThis study of the Bach Choir provides a much-needed overview of one of the major choral societies in London. Dr Basil Keen examines the background that led to the formation of an ad hoc body to give the first performance in England of J.S. Bach's B minor Mass. The musical and organizational effects of a permanent choral society drawn from one social group are traced during the first twenty years, after such time the pressures of social change led to a complete review followed by a restructuring of the methods of recruitment and internal organization. The rebuilding of the choir at the opening of the twentieth century, the expansion of the repertoire, the upheaval resulting from the First World War and the impact of these events on preparation and performance, are all considered. The book is essentially structured around the tenure of successive Musical Directors: Otto Goldschmidt, Charles Villiers Stanford, Walford Davies, Hugh Allen, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Adrian Boult, Reginald Jacques and David Willcocks, since their varied tastes and interests inevitably had a decisive influence on policy. Keen draws upon previously unpublished material, including minutes and correspondence of the Bach Choir, interviews with relatives and descendants, and examination of family records and correspondence. To date, there has been no survey of a major London choir that encompasses the full history of the organization in context. In this study, Dr Basil Keen provides a thorough examination of the Bach Choir, including the response of the choir to social changes; the influence of conductors and officials; changes in musical taste; relationships with composers and composition; major national and international events; and the effect of these matters on organization and repertoire.
The Bach Family: Seven Generations of Creative Genius (Routledge Revivals)
by Karl Geiringer Irene GeiringerWhen this volume was originally published in 1954 it was the first complete history of the Bach family from the 16th Century miller Veit to Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst (1759-1845), Johann Sebastian’s grandson. The author views the family as a whole and shows the characteristic similarities in their artistic and human attitudes as well as the most significant divergences. Equal stress is laid on the discussion of the personalities, against the swiftly changing historical scene, and on the music, for which the author was able to use vast, hitherto inaccessible material. Apart from describing the fascinating phenomenon of this musical family, the author gives a history of musical thought in the last 300 years.
Bach, Handel and Scarlatti: Reception in Britain 1750–1850 (Elements in Music and Musicians 1750–1850)
by Mark KrollThe music of Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederic Handel and Domenico Scarlatti received more performances, publications and appreciation in Britain between 1750–1850 than in any other country during this era. The compositions of these three seminal baroque composers were heard in the numerous public and private concerts that proliferated at this time; edited, arranged and published for professionals and amateurs; written about by scholars and journalists; and used as teaching pieces and in pedagogical treatises. This Element examines the reception of their music during this dynamic period in British musical history, and places the discussion within the context of the artistic, cultural, economic, and political factors that stimulated such passionate interest in 'ancient music.' It also offers a vivid picture of the aesthetic concerns of those musicians and audiences involved with this repertoire, providing insights that help us better understand our own encounters with music of the past.
Bach in Berlin: Nation and Culture in Mendelssohn's Revival of the "St. Matthew Passion"
by Celia ApplegateBach's St. Matthew Passion is universally acknowledged to be one of the world's supreme musical masterpieces, yet in the years after Bach's death it was forgotten by all but a small number of his pupils and admirers. The public rediscovered it in 1829, when Felix Mendelssohn conducted the work before a glittering audience of Berlin artists and intellectuals, Prussian royals, and civic notables. The concert soon became the stuff of legend, sparking a revival of interest in and performance of Bach that has continued to this day.Mendelssohn's performance gave rise to the notion that recovering and performing Bach's music was somehow "national work." In 1865 Wagner would claim that Bach embodied "the history of the German spirit's inmost life." That the man most responsible for the revival of a masterwork of German Protestant culture was himself a converted Jew struck contemporaries as less remarkable than it does us today--a statement that embraces both the great achievements and the disasters of 150 years of German history.In this book, Celia Applegate asks why this particular performance crystallized the hitherto inchoate notion that music was central to Germans' collective identity. She begins with a wonderfully readable reconstruction of the performance itself and then moves back in time to pull apart the various cultural strands that would come together that afternoon in the Singakademie. The author investigates the role played by intellectuals, journalists, and amateur musicians (she is one herself) in developing the notion that Germans were "the people of music." Applegate assesses the impact on music's cultural place of the renewal of German Protestantism, historicism, the mania for collecting and restoring, and romanticism. In her conclusion, she looks at the subsequent careers of her protagonists and the lasting reverberations of the 1829 performance itself.
Bach Masterpieces for Solo Piano: 37 Works (Dover Music for Piano)
by Johann Sebastian Bach*** This book contains musical notation that is displayed in images only *** Rich in the composer's customary melodic and rhythmic invention and harmonic ingenuity, this magnificent compilation of piano works includes such favorites as "Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue," "Italian Concerto," "Air Varied in the Italian Manner," "Capriccio on the Departure of His Most Beloved Brother," "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor," and "Prelude and Fugue in C Minor." Additional selections from among the master's shorter works include Little Preludes, minuets, two- and three-part Inventions, and dances from the French and English suites. Reprinted from authoritative sources.
Bach Performance Practice, 1945-1975: A Comprehensive Review of Sound Recordings and Literature
by Dorottya FabianAnalysing over 100 recordings from 1945-1975, this book examines twentieth-century baroque performance practice as evinced in all the commercially available recordings of J.S. Bach's Passions, Brandenburg Concertos and Goldberg Variations. Dorottya Fabian presents a qualitative, style-orientated history of the early music movement in its formative years through a comparison of the performance style heard in these recordings with the scholarly literature on Bach performance practice. Issues explored in the book include the availability of resources, balance, tempo, dynamics, ornamentation, rhythm and articulation. During the decades following the Second World War, the early music movement was more concerned with the revival of repertoire than with the revival of performance style which meant that its characteristics and achievements differed essentially from those of the later 1970s and 1980s. Period practice techniques were not practised even by ensembles using eighteenth-century instruments. Yet, as this survey reveals, several recordings of the period provide unexpectedly stylish interpretations using metre and pulse to punctuate the music. Such metric performance and appropriate articulation helped to clarify structure and texture and assisted in the creation of a musical discourse - the pre-eminent goal of baroque compositions.
Bach Perspectives 11: J. S. Bach and His Sons
by Mary OleskiewiczAmong his numerous children, Johann Sebastian Bach sired five musically gifted sons. The eleventh volume of Bach Perspectives presents essays that explore these men's lives and careers via distinctive and, in several cases, alternative and interdisciplinary methodologies. Robert L. Marshall traces how each of the sons grappled with ”and at times suffocated beneath ”their illustrious father's legacy. Mary Oleskiewicz's essay investigates the Bach family's connections to historical keyboard instruments and musical venues at the Prussian court, while David Schulenberg looks at Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's diverse and innovative keyboard works. Evan Cortens digs into everything from performance materials to pay stubs to offer a detailed view of the business of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's liturgical music. Finally, Christine Blanken discusses how the rediscovery of Bach family musical manuscripts in the Breitkopf archive opens up new perspectives on familiar topics.
Bach Perspectives, VOL. 6: J. S. Bach's Concerted Ensemble Music, The Ouverture (Bach Perspectives)
by Gregory ButlerAs the official publication of the American Bach Society, Bach Perspectives has pioneered new areas of research in the life, times, and music of Bach since its first appearance in 1995. In a series long known for its major essays by leading Bach scholars and performers, Bach Perspectives, Volume 6 is no exception. This volume opens with Joshua Rifkin’s seminal study of the early source history of the B-minor orchestral suite. It not only elaborates on Rifkin’s discovery that the work in its present form for solo flute goes back to an earlier version in A minor, ostensibly for solo violin, but also takes this discovery as the point of departure for a wide-ranging discussion of the origins and extent of Bach's output in the area of concerted ensemble music. Jeanne Swack presents an enlightening comparison of Georg Phillip Telemann’s and Bach's approach to the French overture as concerted movements in their church cantatas, and Steven Zohn views the B-minor orchestral suite from the standpoint of the "concert en ouverture," responding to Rifkin by suggesting that the early version of the B-minor orchestral suite may also have been scored for flute.
Bach Perspectives, VOL. 7: J. S. Bach's Concerted Ensemble Music: The Concerto (Bach Perspectives)
by Gregory ButlerCorrespondence capturing Dreiser's own take on his long and eventful life In addition to his novels, short stories, plays, poetry, and a flood of journalism, Theodore Dreiser is estimated to have written an astonishing 20,000 letters. A Picture and a Criticism of Life presents a selection from his previously unpublished letters and shows Dreiser in every mood and circumstance, from crisply professional to happily unbuttoned. Meticulously annotated by Donald Pizer, the selections often shed significant new light on the writer's beliefs and activities during the various stages of his long career. A volume in the series The Dreiser Edition, edited by Thomas P. Riggio
Bach Perspectives, Volume 10: Bach and the Organ
by Matthew DirstThe official publication of the American Bach Society, Bach Perspectives pioneers new areas of research into the life, times, and music of the master composer. In Volume 10 of the series, Matthew Dirst edits a collection of groundbreaking essays exploring various aspects of Bach's organ-related activities. Lynn Edwards Butler reconsiders Bach's report on Johann Scheibe's organ at St. Paul's Church in Leipzig. Robin Leaver clarifies the likely provenance and purpose of a collection of chorale harmonizations copied in Dresden. George Stauffer investigates the ways various independent trio movements served Bach as an artist and teacher. In separate contributions, Christoph Wolff and Gregory Butler seek the origins of concerted Bach cantata movements spotlighting the organ and propose family trees of both parent works and offspring. Finally, Matthew Cron provides a broad cultural frame for such pieces and notes how their components engage in a larger discourse about the German Baroque organ's intimation of heaven.
Bach Perspectives, Volume 12: Bach and the Counterpoint of Religion (Bach Perspectives #15)
by Robin A. LeaverJohann Sebastian Bach was a Lutheran and much of his music was for Lutheran liturgical worship. As these insightful essays in the twelfth volume of Bach Perspectives demonstrate, he was also influenced by--and in turn influenced--different expressions of religious belief. The vocal music, especially the Christmas Oratorio, owes much to medieval Catholic mysticism, and the evolution of the B minor Mass has strong Catholic connections. In Leipzig, Catholic and Lutheran congregations sang many of the same vernacular hymns. Internal squabbles were rarely missing within Lutheranism, for example Pietists' dislike of concerted church music, especially if it employed specific dance forms. Also investigated here are broader issues such as the close affinity between Bach's cantata libretti and the hymns of Charles Wesley; and Bach's music in the context of the Jewish Enlightenment as shaped by Protestant Rationalism in Berlin. Contributors: Rebecca Cypess, Joyce L. Irwin, Robin A. Leaver, Mark Noll, Markus Rathey, Derek Stauff, and Janice B. Stockigt.
Bach Perspectives, Volume 13: Bach Reworked (Bach Perspectives)
by Laura BuchScholars and performers have long noted J.S. Bach's abundant use of parody procedures: that is, the recycling and reworking of pre-existing material from his own compositions or from other sources. Laura Buch edits essays exploring how the composer parodied the work of others and how other composers did the same with him. The contributors delve into the works of Baroque-era composers from Bach himself to C. P. E. Bach, Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, and Ferruccio Busoni. But they also cast a wider net, investigating the ways Bach's music cross-pollinates with contemporary composer-performers John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet, and keyboardist Bernie Worrell and Parliament-Funkadelic. The diverse contexts illuminate a broad range of parody techniques, from structural scaffolding and contrapuntal elaboration to integration with stylistic languages far removed from the Baroque. An insightful look at how composers build on each other's work, Bach Reworked reveals how nuanced understandings of parody procedures can fuel both musical innovation and historically informed performance. Contributors: Stephen A. Crist, Ellen Exner, Moira Leanne Hill, Erinn E. Knyt, and Markus Zepf
Bach Perspectives, Volume 14: Bach and Mozart: Connections, Patterns, and Pathways
by Eleanor Selfridge-Field Yoel Greenberg Noelle M Heber Michael Maul Stephen Roe David Schulenberg Paul CorneilsonToday, the names Bach and Mozart are mostly associated with Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But this volume of Bach Perspectives offers essays on the lesser-known musical figures who share those illustrious names alongside new research on the legendary composers themselves. Topics include the keyboard transcriptions of J. S. Bach and Johann Gottfried Walther; J. S. Bach and W. A. Mozart's freelance work; the sonatas of C. P. E. Bach and Leopold Mozart; the early musical training given J. C. Bach by his father and half-brother; the surprising musical similarities between J. C. Bach and W. A. Mozart; and the latest documentary research on Mozart’s 1789 visit to the Thomasschule in Leipzig. An official publication of the American Bach Society, Bach Perspectives, Volume 14 draws on a variety of approaches and a broad range of subject matter in presenting a new wave of innovative classical musical scholarship. Contributors: Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Yoel Greenberg, Noelle M. Heber, Michael Maul, Stephen Roe, and David Schulenberg
Bach Perspectives, Volume 9: J.S. Bach and His Contemporaries in Germany
by Andrew TalleThis provocative addition to the Bach Perspectives series offers a counternarrative to the isolated genius status that J.S. Bach and his music currently enjoy. Contributors contextualize Bach by examining the output, reputation, and compositional practices of his contemporaries in Germany whose work was widely played and enjoyed in his time, including Georg Philipp Telemann, Christoph Graupner, Gottlieb Muffat, and Johann Adolf Scheibe. Essays place Bach and his work in relation to his peers, examining avenues of composition they took while he did not and showing how differing treatments of the same subjects or texts resulted in markedly different compositional results and legacies. By looking closely at how Bach's contemporaries addressed the tasks and challenges of their time, this project provides a more nuanced view of the musical world of Bach's time while revealing in more specific terms than ever how and why Bach's own music remains fresh and compelling. Contributors are Alison Dunlop, Wolfgang Hirschmann, Michael Maul, Andrew Talle, and Steven Zohn.
Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, and Theology (Contextual Bach Studies #3)
by Robin A. LeaverThis volume draws together a collection of Robin A. Leaver’s essays on Bach’s sacred music, exploring the religious aspects of this repertoire through consideration of three core themes: liturgy, hymnology, and theology. Rooted in a rich understanding of the historical sources, the book illuminates the varied ways in which Bach’s sacred music was informed and shaped by the religious, ritual, and intellectual contexts of his time, placing these works in the wider history of Protestant church music during the Baroque era. Including research from across a span of forty years, the chapters in this volume have been significantly revised and expanded for this publication, with several pieces appearing in English for the first time. Together, they offer an essential compendium of the work of a leading scholar of theological Bach studies.
Bach to the Rescue!!!: How a Rich Dude Who Couldn't Sleep Inspired the Greatest Music Ever
by Tom AnglebergerEvery famous piece of art has an origin story—even Bach’s Goldberg Variations! When the richest dude in town can’t sleep, he hires a much-less-rich dude named Johann Gottlieb Goldberg to play him lullabies on the harpsichord. Goldberg does an OK job, but as the Rich Dude hollers for Goldberg each night, he wakes up the whole town in the process. As the town gets sleepier and sleepier and grumpier and grumpier, Goldberg worries he may be out of a job soon. But then, the one and only Bach enters the scene with a series of lullabies composed specifically for the Rich Dude. And, thus, the Goldberg Variations are born! This zany, nontraditional nonfiction picture book comes from the inimitable Tom Angleberger, author of the bestselling Origami Yoda series.
Bach’s Architecture of Gratitude: On the Genius of the Mass in B Minor
by James CrooksEvery lover of music finds themselves, at privileged moments, in ecstasy – certain that what they are hearing has captured, somehow, an incontrovertible truth. In Bach’s Architecture of Gratitude James Crooks explores this profound aesthetic experience in a case study of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor – widely considered among the greatest works of the western choral canon.The book begins with an investigation of compositional principles – of what we might call the mass’s musical architecture. Crooks argues that in its cathedral-like structure, Bach gives us a detailed map of the spiritual journey it triggers. This journey culminates in our apprehension of the world as a gift. And that means, in turn, that the mode of knowing appropriate to its musical ecstasy is gratitude. In the gratitude of aesthetic experience, we learn something crucial about the genuine nature of our own identity, our relations with others, and the character of the things around us. Bach’s genius lies in his capacity to frame these lessons in the mass’s choruses, solos, and duets.Spotlighting the wisdom embedded in gratitude, Bach’s Architecture of Gratitude celebrates music as a pathway to understanding our deepest selves and our intimacy with the world.
Bach's 'Brandenburg' Concertos (Routledge Revivals)
by Norman CarrellOriginally published in 1963 and with a foreword by Yehudi Menuhin, this book begins with a study of the historical scene and the conditions under which Bach and his player colleagues lived, wrote and worked. It discusses the instruments then in use and required by Bach in these compositions and why certain passages in consequence took the shape or form they did. The book analyses Bach’s music and demonstrates how he built up whole movements from a single 3 or 4-note germ, and at the same time shows how the composer developed his own powers. How, for example, in addition to making any necessary changes to overcome technical deficiencies, he began to think about the musical suitability of passages given to certain instruments instead of just giving the same passage to any of the instruments he happened to have included in his concertante group. When it was first published the book was believed to be the only one in English to deal with the subject in such detail.
Bach's Cello Suites, Volumes 1 and 2: Analyses and Explorations
by Allen WinoldJ. S. Bach's Suites for Unaccompanied Cello are among the most cherished and frequently played works in the entire literature of music, and yet they have never been the subject of a full-length music analytical study. The musical examples herein include every note of all movements (so one needs no separate copy of the music while reading the book), and undertakes both basic analyses—harmonic reduction, functional harmonic analysis, step progression analysis, form analysis, and syntagmatic and paradigmatic melodic analysis—and specialized analyses for some of the individual movements. Allen Winold presents a comprehensive study intended not only for cellists, but also for other performers, music theorists, music educators, and informed general readers.
Bach's Dialogue with Modernity: Perspectives on the Passions
by John ButtProviding a detailed analysis of Bach's Passions, this book represents an important contribution to the debate about the culture of 'classical music', its origins, priorities and survival. The angles from which each chapter proceeds differ from those of a traditional music guide, by examining the Passions in the light of the mindsets of modernity, and their interplay with earlier models of thought and belief. While the historical details of Bach's composition, performance and theological context remain crucial, the foremost concern of this study is to relate these works to a historical context that may, in some threads at least, still be relevant today. The central claim of the book is that the interplay of traditional imperatives and those of early modernity renders Bach's Passions particularly fascinating as artefacts that both reflect and constitute some of the priorities and conditions of the western world.
Bach's Feet
by David YearsleyThe organist seated at the king of instruments with thousands of pipes rising all around him, his hands busy at the manuals and his feet patrolling the pedalboard, is a symbol of musical self-sufficiency yielding musical possibilities beyond that of any other mode of solo performance. In this book, David Yearsley presents a new interpretation of the significance of the oldest and richest of European instruments, by investigating the German origins of the uniquely independent use of the feet in organ playing. Delving into a range of musical, literary and visual sources, Bach's Feet demonstrates the cultural importance of this physically demanding mode of music-making, from the blind German organists of the fifteenth century, through the central contribution of Bach's music and legacy, to the newly-pedaling organists of the British Empire and the sinister visions of Nazi propagandists.
Bach's Goldberg Variations (Once Upon a Masterpiece #3)
by Anna Harwell CelenzaJohann Gottlieb Goldberg is a young servant in the employ of Count Keyserlingk. A talented musician, the boy secretly practices playing the harpsichord at night. When the count discovers Goldberg one evening, he challenges Goldberg to combine all the harpsichord music he's learned--and to throw in a riddle. In a panic, Goldberg turns to Johann Sebastian Bach for the perfect piece of music to appease the count. Stylized illustrations include elements from the baroque period. For families, teachers, and curious music lovers of all ages.
Bach's Major Vocal Works: Music, Drama, Liturgy
by Markus RatheyEvery year, Johann Sebastian Bach's major vocal works are performed to mark liturgical milestones in the Christian calendar. Written by a renowned Bach scholar, this concise and accessible book provides an introduction to the music and cultural contexts of the composer's most beloved masterpieces, including the "Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, " and" St. John Passion. " In addition to providing historical information, each chapter highlights significant aspects-such as the theology of love-of a particular piece. This penetrating volume is the first to treat the vocal works as a whole, showing how the compositions were embedded in their original performative context within the liturgy as well as discussing Bach's musical style, from the detailed level of individual movements to the overarching aspects of each work. Published in the approach to Easter when many of these vocal works are performed, this outstanding volume will appeal to casual concertgoers and scholars alike. "