| Preface | 11 |
| Introduction: History and Performance | 15 |
| Part I. | Sounds and Styles | |
| Chapter 1. | Instruments | 21 |
| The harpsichord | |
| The lute-harpsichord | |
| The clavichord | |
| The pedal harpsichord and clavichord | |
| The fortepiano | |
| The modern piano | |
| The organ | |
| Orchestral instruments | |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Chapter 2. | Genres and Styles in Bach's Keyboard Music | 47 |
| Basic genres | |
| French and Italian national styles | |
| Homophony | |
| Imitation of other media | |
| Stylus phantasticus | |
| Counterpoint | |
| Musical imagery | |
| Dances | |
| Galant style | |
| Interdependence of elements | |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Part II. | Performance and Notational Practices | |
| Chapter 3. | Accounts of Bach's Playing Style | 85 |
| Bach's playing as described by his contemporaries | |
| Bach's performance directions | |
| Chapter 4. | Dynamics | 93 |
| Musical textures and the harpsichord | |
| Bach's keyboard writing | |
| Orchestral and terrace dynamics | |
| Dynamics based on harmony | |
| Dynamics and musical context | |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Chapter 5. | Articulation | 107 |
| General articulatory styles | |
| "Ordinary movement" | |
| Legato | |
| Detachment and staccato | |
| Slur meanings | |
| Notational habits | |
| Bach's articulatory notation | |
| Upbeat slurring | |
| Rests and releases | |
| Articulation of themes and motives | |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Chapter 6. | Phrasing and Accent | 125 |
| Accent | |
| Metric variation | |
| Musical scansion | |
| Figural writing | |
| Timing in the stylus phantasticus | |
| Reiteration of notes | |
| Phrasing and dynamics | |
| Playing counterpoint | |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Chapter 7. | Meter, Tempo, and Time Words | 142 |
| Tempo and time signatures | |
| Meter and the stylus phantasticus | |
| Tempo words | |
| Tempo and musical context | |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Chapter 8. | Rhythmic Elements | 155 |
| Musical shaping | |
| Foreground, middleground, and background | |
| Characterization | |
| Rhythmic functions | |
| Rubato | |
| Final cadences | |
| Rhythmic notation and performance practices | |
| Variable dot | |
| Two against three | |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Chapter 9. | Ornamentation and Embellishment | 174 |
| Variability in ornaments | |
| The trill | |
| The tremolo | |
| The mordent | |
| The turn | |
| The slide | |
| One-note graces | |
| Arpeggios | |
| Block-notated chords | |
| Elaboration of fermatas | |
| Conventional additions of ornaments | |
| Bach's note picture | |
| Embellishments | |
| Varied repetitions | |
| Bach's doubles | |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Chapter 10. | Keyboard Fingering | 207 |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Chapter 11. | Continuo Accompaniment and Ensemble Playing | 218 |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Part III. | Speculative Matters | |
| Chapter 12. | Musical Rhetoric | 227 |
| The rhetorical model in brief | |
| Inventio; loci topici (invention; finding topics) | |
| Dispositio (arrangement) | |
| Decoratio (figures of speech) | |
| Rhetoric and performance | |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Chapter 13. | Temperament | 251 |
| Suggestions for further reading | |
| Chapter 14. | Musicology and the Performer | 258 |
| Appendix A. | Editions and Facsimiles | 263 |
| Appendix B. | Tempo Relationships | 265 |
| Appendix C. | Styles in the Keyboard Works | 268 |
| Appendix D. | Performance Practice Myths | 272 |
| Glossary | 277 |
| Selected Bibliography | 285 |
| General Index | 295 |
| Index of Works Cited | 302 |
