E-Book Overview
The year 2000 has been declared a "Bach Year," marking the 250th anniversary of the great composer's death. Around the world, there will be major celebrations in honor of his astonishing body of work. This major biography of Bach, now completely revised and boasting 25% more material, is published to coincide with these events. In the new edition of this widely acclaimed study, biographical chapters alternate with commentary on the works, to demonstrate how the circumstances of Bach's life helped to shape the music he wrote at various periods. We follow Bach as he travels from Arnstadt and Muhlhausen to Weimar, Cothen, and finally Leipzig, these journeys alternating with insightful discussions of the great composer's organ and orchestral compositions. As well as presenting a rounded picture of Bach, his music, and his posthumous reputation and influence, Malcolm Boyd considers the sometimes controversial topics of "parody" and arrangement, number symbolism, and the style and meaning of Bach's late works. Recent theories on the constitution of Bach's performing forces at Leipzig are also present. The text and the appendixes (which include a chronology, personalia, bibliography, and a complete catalogue of Bach's works) have been thoroughly revised to take account of the research undertaken by Bach scholars, including the gold mine of new information recently uncovered in the former USSR. An authoritative account of the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach, this volume will be essential reading for everyone interested in the classical composers.
E-Book Content
T H E M A S T E R M U S I C I A N S BACH Series edited by Stanley Sadie T H E M A S T E R M U S I C I A N S Titles Available in Paperbac k Berlioz Brahms • • Hugh Macdonald Malcolm MacDonald Britten • Michael Kennedy Bruckner Derek Watson • Chopin Handel • Mahler • Jim Samson Donald Burrows Liszt Mendelssohn • Derek Watson • Michael Kennedy • Rachmaninoff Rossini • Schubert Geoffrey Norris Richard Osborn John Reed • Sibelius • Robert Layton • Richard Strauss Tchaikovsky • • Edward Garden Vaughan Williams Verdi • Michael Kennedy • James Day Julian Budde n Philip Radcliffe Vivaldi • Michael Talbot Denis Arnold Wagner • Barry Millington Monteverdi • Purcell J. A. Westrup • Titles Available in Hardcover Bach Beethoven • Malcolm Boyd Handel • Donald Burrows Barry Cooper Schütz • Basil Smallman • Chopin Elgar • • Jim Samson Robert Anderson Richard Strauss Stravinsky • • Michael Kennedy Paul Griffiths Titles In Preparation Bartók • Malcolm Gillies Puccini • Julian Budden Dvo˘rák • Jan Smaczny Schumann Musorgsky • David Brown Tchaikovsky • Eric Frederick Jensen • R. John Wiley T H E M A S T E R M U S I C I A N S BACH å Malcolm Boyd 1 1 Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogatá Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City