The Life of Bach

by Peter Williams

Overview

Like Shakespeare, J.S. Bach is known largely by his works. Peter Williams asks many questions in this examination of the man as well as the composer. What was Bach like as a youth, father, and, eventually, church elder? What music did he know and how did he compose and perform such an amazing amount? Ultimately, Williams questions the effects of unremitting acclaim on objective evaluations of J.S. Bach.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521826365
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/18/2003
Series:	Musical Lives
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Peter Williams (1937–2016) was an internationally renowned Bach scholar and performer. He held the first Chair in Performance Practice in Britain at the University of Edinburgh, where he was Director of the Russell Collection of Harpsichords and latterly Dean of Music. He was also the first Arts and Sciences Distinguished Chair at Duke University, North Carolina. He was the author of many books, including A New History of the Organ (1980), The Organ Music of J. S. Bach (3 volumes, Cambridge, 1981–1984), Bach, Handel, Scarlatti 1685–1985 (Cambridge, 1985) and Bach: The Goldberg Variations (Cambridge, 2001).

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Early years 1685–1703; 2. First appointments 1703–8; 3. Weimar 1708–17; 4. Cöthen 1717–23; 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.

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher