Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician - Softcover

Wolff, Christoph

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199248842 ISBN 13: 9780199248841

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2005

Synopsis

Although we are acquainted with the music of J. S. Bach through countless performances and recordings, the composer himself continues to come across as the somewhat enigmatic figure depicted in a single, familiar portrait. Published in 2000 to mark the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, author and leading Bach scholar Christoph Wolff presents a new picture that brings to life this towering figure of the Baroque era. Now available in paperback, this engaging biography portrays Bach as the living, breathing-and sometimes imperfect-human being that he was, while bringing to bear all the advances gained in the last half-century of Bach scholarship. Wolff demonstrates the intimate connection between the composer's life and his music, showing how Bach's superb inventiveness pervaded his career as a musician, composer, performer, scholar, and teacher. And throughout, we see Bach in the broader context of his time: its institutions, traditions, and influences. With this highly readable book, Wolff sets a new standard in Bach biography.

About this title

Review:

The Learned Musician is an apt subtitle for this intellectual biography, which assesses the career of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) with the scholarly rigour one would expect from a Harvard professor. Opening with a 1737 attack by a critic who labelled Bach a pedant who spoiled the natural beauty of his creations with "an excess of art", Christoph Wolff cogently compares the German composer to English scientist Isaac Newton. Both men "brought about fundamental changes and established new principles" in their chosen fields, he argues; both sought to reveal God's harmonious ordering of their world. While Wolff conscientiously covers the basics of Bach's life, including his two marriages and the musical achievements of his gifted family, the author's primary focus is on his performing (Bach was an unrivalled organist) and composing. From the Goldberg Variations through the Brandenburg Concertos to Art of the Fugue, Wolff carefully analyses Bach's innovations in harmony and counterpoint, placing them in the context of European musical and social history rendered in nicely atmospheric detail. Casual readers may find this dense tome a bit daunting, but serious music lovers will relish the deeper understanding it conveys of a genius who transformed Western music. --Wendy Smith

Review:

eminently readable, at times even colloquial. Wolff is one of the foremost Bach scholars today, and his comprehensive knowledge of the source materials equips him admirably to write such a book ... all sorts of interesting details emerge. (John Kitchen, Early Music Today, Oct.-Nov. 2000)

Drawing on a lifetime's involvement with Bach's music, Professor Wolff has written what is undoubtedly the most authorative and up-to-date survey of the composer's life and works in English, and probably in any language. (Malcolm Boyd, The Gramophone)

Musical biographies don't come much better than this ... no-one seriously interested in Bach should pass it by. (Bettina Neumann, Piano, July-Aug 2000)

this is a learned and satisfying account of Bach's work, temperament and milieu which will disappoint neither specialist nor general music lover. (Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine)

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0199248842
• ISBN 13: 9780199248841
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 624