Synopses & Reviews
A searching and challenging interpretation of one of the greatest composers of all time.
Review
"It keeps up a guard against excessive reverence, and it encourages readers not only to reconsider ideas about the composer but also to rehear his music." The New York Review of Books, Peter Williams, Mystery Man
Synopsis
This new and challenging biography asks many questions. What was Bach like as a young man, as a father, as an ageing church servant? How did he compose and perform so much music? And has our understanding of him been hindered by the deference displayed towards him since his death?
Synopsis
Bach, like Shakespeare, is known largely by his works, and only a few original documents convey any idea of his life and character. Interpreting the so-called evidence, Peter Williams asks many questions. What was Bach like as a young man, as a father, as an ageing church servant? What music did he know and how did he compose and perform such an amazing amount of music? In addition, he asks if our understanding of Bach has been hindered by the unremitting deference displayed towards him since his death.
About the Author
Peter Williams is former Professor and Dean of Music at the University of Edinburgh and is emeritus Arts and Science Professor of Music at Duke University. His books include A New History of the Organ (1980), The Organ Music of J S Bach (3 vols, Cambridge,1981-1984), Bach, Handel, Scarlatti 1685-1985 (Cambridge, 1985), and Bach: The Goldbert Variations (Cambridge, 2001).
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. Early years 1685-1703; 2. First appointments 1703-1708; 3. Weimar 1708-1717; 4. Cöthen 1717-1723; 5. Leipzig, the first decade; 6. Leipzig, the second decade; 7. Leipzig, the final years and the first personal descriptions; Appendix 1. A sample hypothesis; Appendix 2. Some terms; References; BWV Index; Name index.