ECU Libraries Catalog

Beyond Bach : music and everyday life in the eighteenth century / Andrew Talle.

Author/creator Talle, Andrew author.
Format Book and Print
Publication Info Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [2017]
Copyright Notice ©2017
Descriptionxiv, 343 pages, 8 pages of plates : illustrations (some color), music ; 25 cm
Supplemental Content Full text available from JSTOR eBooks
Subject(s)
Contents Civilizing instruments -- The mechanic and the tax collector -- A silver merchant's daughter -- A dark-haired dame and her Scottish admirer -- Two teenage countesses -- A marriage rooted in reason -- Male amateur keyboardists -- A blacksmith's son -- May God protect this beautiful organ -- How professional musicians were compensated -- The daily life of an organist.
Abstract Reverence for J.S. Bach's music and its towering presence in our cultural memory have long affected how people hear his works. In his own time, however, Bach stood as just another figure among a number of composers, many of them more popular with the music-loving public. Eschewing the great composer style of music history, the author takes us on a journey that looks at how ordinary people made music in Bach's Germany. He focuses in particular on the culture of keyboard playing as lived in public and private. As he ranges through a wealth of documents, instruments, diaries, account ledgers, and works of art, the author brings a fascinating cast of characters to life. These individuals--amateur and professional performers, patrons, instrument builders, and listeners--inhabited a lost world, and the author's deft expertise teases out the diverse roles music played in their lives and in their relationships with one another. At the same time, his nuanced recreation of keyboard playing's social milieu illuminates the era's reception of Bach's immortal works.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 305-329) and index.
Issued in other formOnline version: Talle, Andrew. Beyond Bach. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2017 9780252099342
LCCN 2016041694
ISBN9780252040849 (hardcover ; alkaline paper)
ISBN0252040848
ISBN(electronic book)

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML3917.G3 T35 2017 ✔ Available Place Hold