The Organ Music of J. S. Bach: Volume 3, A Background

by Peter Williams

Overview

This book, first published in 1984, is the third volume of Peter Williams' important reference work, The Organ Music of J. S. Bach. In this volume, Peter Williams lays before the reader the salient points that serve as an appropriate bckground to the pieces: notes on the church services of the area in question (Thuringia - Saxony), the fitful tradition of recitals, the duties of organists, the composer's indebtedness to former and contemporary styles in music, his knowledge of organs, the relevance (often over-valued today) of theorists, details of the instruments he was acquainted with and what can be assumed about the way they were registered and played. Throughout, the author has aimed to present a background to this music and its playing and has avoided stepping into areas of high conjecture, such as chronology or how specific pieces are to be played.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521379786
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/09/1989
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Music
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	7.48(w) x 9.76(h) x 0.71(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 Bach, Handel, Scarlatti 1685–1985 (Cambridge, 1985), The Life of Bach (Cambridge, 2003) and J. S. Bach: A Life in Music (Cambridge, 2007).

Table of Contents

Preface; Maps; Part I. The Music in Service and Recital: 1. The order of services; 2. Hymns, hymnbooks and singing; 3. Organ chorales as preludes; 4. Organ chorales as and with interludes; 5. The duties of organists; 6. Organist-trials; 7. Recitals; Part II. The Music and its Composition: 8. The arts of composing or improvising organ chorales; 9. Affektenlehre, rhetoric and 'symbolism'; 10. Figurenlehre as a background to composition; 11. Italian influences; 12. French influences; 13. Niedt's and Mattheson's praeludia; 14. Influences on the preludes and fugues: further remarks; 15. Bicinia; Part III. The Music and its Organ: 16. The 'Bach organ'; 17. J. S. Bach's organ reports; 18. Registration; 19. Organo pleno; 20. Two manuals; 21. Temperament questions; 22. Harpsichord questions; 23. The Music and its Performance: 23. Certain details of performance: articulation and legato; 24. Fingering; 25. Ornaments; 26. Certain details of performance: finals, fermatas and repeats; 27. Pedals and pedalling; 28. Three-stave notation; Additions and corrections: Volume i; Volume II; Notes on MSS cited; List of references; Index of names; Index of BWV works cited; Title index of BWV numbers in volumes I-III.