The Organ Music of J. S. Bach

by Peter Williams

Overview

Taking account of Bach scholarship of the past twenty-five years, the first two volumes of Peter Williams's classic study of Bach's organ works are fully revised. This work is a piece-by-piece commentary on this ever-popular repertoire, demonstrating the music's unique qualities and how we might hear and play it today. The book follows the order of the Bach catalog (BWV): beginning with the sonatas, followed by the "free works" and the chorales, and ending with the doubtful works, including the "newly discovered chorales" of 1985.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521891158
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/11/2003
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	638
Product dimensions:	6.77(w) x 9.57(h) x 1.26(d)

About the Author

Peter Williams (1937–2016) was an internationally renowned Bach scholar and performer. He was Professor of Performance Practice and the first Director of the Russell Collection of Harpsichords at the University of Edinburgh, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor at Duke University, North Carolina, and John Bird Professor at the University of Wales, Cardiff. He wrote numerous books on the organ, organ history and organ repertoire. The first edition of The Organ Music of J. S. Bach was published in 1980 (Volumes 1 and 2) and 1984 (Volume 3).

Table of Contents

Fugue in G Minor, BWV 131a; Six Sonatas, BWV 525-530; Preludes and Fugues (Praeludia), BWV 531-552; Eight Short Preludes and Fugues, BWV 553-560; Miscellaneous Pieces, BWV 561-591; Concertos, BWV 592-596; Orgelbüchlein, BWV 599-644; Schübler Chorales, BWV 645-650; Chorales formerly called 'The Eighteen', BWV 651-668; Chorales from Clavierübung III, BWV 669-689; Chorales formerly called 'The Kirnsberger Collection', BWV 690-713; Miscellaneous Chorales, BWV 714-765; Chorale Variations (Partitas), BWV 766-771; Four Duets from Clavierübung III, BWV 802-805; Chorales now called 'The Neumeister Collection', BWV 1090-1120; Further works, in part uncertain of origin; Calendar; Glossary.

Editorial Reviews

"This masterful revision of a book first published in 1980 confirms Peter Williams's towering status in the field. The book is a wonderful reference and guide for the performer and scholar alike." Times Literary Supplement, Martin J. Smith

"This work belongs in every organist's library. The analysis progresses in order of the BWV listings, and every work is thoroughly examined in light of the most recent and highest scholarship. The foundation of every organist's repertoire is Bach, and this work will shed some new light and perhaps provide new interpretive inspiration on many familiar works." - Music Educators Journal, For Your Library

From the Publisher