| Contents |
Life and works. Early years, 1685-1703: background, family, studies. 'Honourable Thuringians' -- Birth, family -- Loss of parents -- Earliest musical activities -- Copying music and the 'moonlight episode' -- The move to Luneburg -- Composing in Luneburg -- Visits to Hamburg -- Influential composers: Böhm and Reinken -- Johann Christoph's albums and some early compositions -- French and Italian tastes -- First appointments, 1703-1708: a young musician's activities and early works. First Weimar appointment -- The Arnstadt appointment -- A further note on 'early works' -- Further influences, 1700-1715 -- The visit to Buxtehude, and the 'Arnstadt Chorales' -- Lübeck, the cantatas, Passacaglia and other works -- The Mühlhausen appointment -- Mühlhausen and 'early cantatas' -- The Mühlhausen letter and other writing -- First marriage, and some cantatas of the time -- Letters and writing -- Weimar, 1708-1717: the gifted player at a ducal court. Heard by a duke -- The Weimar appointment -- Early years in Weimar -- Cantatas in Weimar -- Musical development: counterpoint, variations, concertos -- Musical development: strategy, tactics -- Some Weimar music: more on Italian and French tastes -- The Halle audition -- The Orgelbüchlein: for Halle? -- Cantatas in Weimar: the promotion to concertmaster -- Pupils in Weimar -- The competition with Marchand -- Cöthen, 1717-1723: other opportunities for the maturing composer. The call to Cöthen -- The move to Cöthen -- The Cöthen appointment and musical opportunities -- Cantatas in Cöthen -- Violin concertos, the Clavierbüchlein, Inventions -- The solo works for violin and cello -- Death of Maria Barbara -- The Hamburg recital (an audition?) -- A note on adapting works -- A note on the 'English Suites' -- A note on the 'Brandenburg Concertos' -- Second marriage -- The Anna Magdalena books and the 'French Suites' -- A note on the Well-Tempered Clavier, 'Book 1' (WTC1) -- A note on French interests -- The family -- Leipzig, the first years: a cantor's life, his duties, cantatas, Passions, publications. The call to Leipzig -- The appointment procedure -- On accepting the position -- New life in Leipzig: personal -- New life in Leipzig: background to cantatas, motets, etc. -- The church cantatas, earlier years -- Further on cantatas: other works, the Magnificat, chorales -- Subsequent cantata-cycles -- How many cantatas and passions? -- Further on the St John Passion -- Further on the St Matthew Passion -- Further on the two Passions -- The first publications: six harpsichord partitas -- Other instrumental music: six violin sonatas, six organ sonatas -- 'Secular cantatas' and other activities -- Leipzig, the middle years: other activities. The Collegium musicum -- Collegium repertory: concertos, sonatas, songs? -- The royal title and the Missa -- A note on the Christmas Oratorio -- A note on the keyboard practice volumes, especially Clavierübung II -- The set of harpsichord concertos -- Major organ works -- Published organ music: Clavierübung III -- Developments other than keyboard music -- Leipzig, the final years: a concentration on the language of music. Other musical activities: copying, performing, selling -- A note on the 'Goldberg variations' -- A note on the 'Well-tempered Clavier, Book 2' (WTC2) -- Concerning the last decade -- The Art of Fugue -- The visit to Potsdam and the Musical Offering -- Four late chorale collections for organ -- The 'Mass in B minor': origins -- The 'Mass in B minor': music -- Blindness -- Deathbed and death -- Part II. Observations on the life and works. What was said, what can be inferred. 'Hidden secrets of harmony' -- 'Serious and profound music' -- 'A light and playful manner of thinking -- Opera -- Choir-size at the Thomaskirche -- The memorandum of 23 August 1730 -- The letter to Georg Erdmann of 28 October 1730 -- The Leipzig Collegium obsolescent? -- Organs -- Other keyboards -- The ensemble-director and score-reader -- The keyboard-player -- A note on string instruments and continuo -- The organ expert -- Scheibe's criticism -- Character, quarrels -- Moments of contention -- 'Theoretical speculations' -- Tuning and temperament -- The teacher -- What was taught (musical grammar, compositions) -- What was taught (keyboard-playing) -- A pupil: W. F. Bach and the Clavierbüchlein -- A pupil: Anna Magdalena Bach Books of 1722 and 1725 -- A pupil: C. P. E. Bach and his book of 1753/1762 -- A note on the four-part chorales -- A speculation concerning W. F. Bach -- An epilogue. Concerning the composer's priorities -- Concerning Bach and the performer -- Concerning certain music -- Texts, appropriate music, parodies: sacred versus secular -- A brief note on aesthetics. |
| Abstract |
J.S. Bach composed some of the best-loved and most moving music in Western culture. This book revisits Bach's biography through the lens of his music, reviewing all of Bach's 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, the author 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. |
