About the Book
Although we have heard of the music of J.S. Bach in countless performances and recordings, the composer himself still comes across only as an enigmatic figure in a single familiar portrait. As we mark the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, author and leading Bach scholar, here Christoph Wolff presents a new picture that brings to life this towering figure of the Baroque era. This engaging new biography portrays Bach as the living,
breathing, and sometimes imperfect human being that he was, while bringing to bear all the advances of 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 for Bach biography.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Prologue: Bach and the Notion of Musical Science
1: Springs of Musical Talent and Lifelong Influences - Eisenach, 1685-1695
2: Laying the Foundation - Ohrduff, 1695-1700
3: Bypassing a Musical Apprenticeship - From Lüneberg to Weimar, 1700-1703
4: Building a Reputation - Organist in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen, 1703-1708
5: Exploring 'Every Possible Artistry' - Court Organist and Cammer Musicus in Weimar, 1708-1714
6: Expanding Musical Horizons - Concertmaster in Weimar, 1714-1717
7: Pursuing 'the Musical Contest for Superiority' - Capellmeister in Cöthen, 1717-1723
8: Redefining a Venerable Office - Cantor and Music Director in Leipzig: The 1720s
9: Musician and Scholar - Counterpoint of Practice and Theory
10: Traversing Conventional Boundaries - Special Engagements Highlight the 1730s
11: A Singing Bird and Carnations for the Lady of the House - Domestic and Professional Life
12: Contemplating Past, Present, and Future - The Final Decade: the 1740s
Epilogue: Bach and the idea of 'Musical Perfection'
Notes
Music Examples
Appendices:
Chronology
Money and Living Costs in Bach's Time
Movable and Fixed Feasts in the Lutheran Church Calendar
Bibliography
Index
Review :
`full of insight ... Wolff is particularly fine on the word-generated music of the cantatas ... Wolff's biography is an invaluable achievement. Not only does it present all the facts clearly and unambiguously, it allows the reader to appreciate the immense labours that filled Bach's life.'
Edward Said, London Review of Books, 19 July 2001
`Wolff's book is a magnificant summary of the predominant late-20th-century view of Bach, presented with the brilliance and clarity of an Orgelbewegung instrument.'
David Ledbetter, Early Music, Feb 2001
`This is the fruit of the amazingly comprehensive scope of Wolff's view, held with a strength and clarity of focus in which there are no fudged edges ... such is the grasp of the writer and the interest of the central figure that the narrative is never less than compelling. It brings us into the living reality of Bach's environment ... the book is ... studded with perceptive musical commentaries.'
David Ledbetter, Early Music, Feb 2001
`fine new biography'
The Weekend Australian Review
`The most important biographical study ever produced since Philipp Spitta's ground-breaking attempt in 1873.'
Yo Tomita, On-line Book Review, 11/10/00.
`this is a book by the author of unmatchable reputation.'
Yo Tomita, On-line Book Review, 11/10/00.
`What impresses me most is the way Wolff depicts Bach's life so vividly and intimately. The way he uses a wealth of historical facts is exemplary: instead of becoming pedantry, they are used felicitously in the right context to acquire a strong narrative drive that is important for a biography. The author certainly has a profound interpretive insight into Bach's life and works.'
Yo Tomita, On-line Book Review, 11/10/00.
`Once started, the reader will be glued to it from the beginning to the end.'
Yo Tomita, On-line Book Review, 11/10/00.
`It is undeniably the most important biography on Bach ever written since 1873. While being very informative, it does not lend itself to technical or pedantic display of knowledge, which is in itself a marvellous achievement.'
Yo Tomita, On-line Book Review, 11/10/00.
`Of all Bach books this year, this is the most satisfying.'
BBC Music Mag. 12/00.
`Of all Bach books this year, this is the most satisfying.'
BBC Music Magazine
`Wolff is good at drawing parallels between Bach's pre-planned, inner curriculam vitae of musical ideas and the standard biographical nitty-gritty.'
Andrew Manze, TLS
`It is the contrast between the narrow geography of Bach's world and the musical universe expanding within his head which Wolff brings to life so well ... an authoritative and entertaining exposition of Bach's life and thought.'
Andrew Manze, TLS
`There is always an illuminating fact or bit of evidence ... Wolff's mastery of the documents can not but help Those Desirous of Learning.'
Peter Williams, The Musical Times
`Few people could dip into the book without learning more than a little about some background detail important to the composer's life and work.'
Peter Williams, The Musical Times
`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. 00.
`Wolff's magisterial book ... is a lucidly-organised mine of information that will not be superseded for some time ... deserve (s) the widest readership.'
John Kitchen, Early Music Today, Oct/Nov. 00.
`Christoph Wolff is fully justified in his new biography, in focusing on the 'learned' aspects of Bach's art. In so doing he is able to suggest a new perspective on events in Bach's life, to show that 'mathematical stuff' is not necessarily 'dry'.'
Malcolm Boyd, Gramophone, Aug.00.
`The background - social, politica, ecclesiastical and aesthetic - is deftely, but thorougly, fleshed out, and helps to explain Bach's choice of a particular course of action or his reations to particular events.'
Malcolm Boyd, Gramophone, Aug.00.
`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, Gramophone, Aug.00.
`Musical biographies don't come much better than this.'
Bettina Neumann, Piano, Jul/Aug 00.
`Packed with information, rich in background, both historical and musical, filled with incident and insight, and remarkably vivid in its depiction of Bach's home life, it leaves one with a fresher, more vibrant picture of the composer than almost all of its predecessors.'
Bettina Neumann, Piano, Jul/Aug 00.
`no-one seriously interested in Bach should pass it by.'
Bettina Neumann, Piano, Jul/Aug 00.
`this is the first important biography of J.S. Bach in English; it is meticulously researched, readable, and demonstrates Wolff's qualities as one of the most oustanding Bach scholars of the late 20th century.'
John Woodford, Online Journal, Issue 3, Sept. 2000.
`an example of Bach scholarship previously unsurpassed by many authors.'
John Woodford, Online Journal, Issue 3, Sept. 2000.
`Wolff's new study provides the most throughgoing and up-to-date picture of Bach's life that we have, at present, and it makes absorbing reading.'
Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine, Aug 2000.
`this is a learned and satisfying account of Bach's work, temperement and milieu which will disappoint neither specialist nor general music lover.'
Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine, Aug 2000.
`Model demonstration of how to draw significant implications from the most prosaic-seeming facts.'
Noel Malcolm, The Sunday Telegraph. 23/04/00
`The... description of this Harvard professor as 'the leading Bach scholar of our time' is no exaggeration, and this admirable book undoubtedly does 'set a new standard for Bach biography'... the author provides a remarkably comprehensive account of Bach's life... What a difference there is between informed conjecture and the idle specualtion which so often weakens biographical wrotong... Wolff has channelled his formidable scholarship into radable prose...
this splendid, reasonably priced biography... accommodates ample musical discussion, with the excellent coverage of topics.'
Philip Borg-Wheeler, Classical Music 15/07/2000
