Book Description

Finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in Biography. A landmark biography of Bach on the 250th anniversary of the composer's death, written by the leading Bach scholar of our age. Although we have heard 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 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 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. 42 b/w illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

dry but readable and insightful
After reading this book I came away with a good understanding of Bach's musical achievements and his concept of what music is all about. This is a very well written and comprehensive look at Bach's music and musical evolution thru life - including his major, longer works (no minuets included) and musical surroundings. It is very well worth reading for its study of Bach's music if you have some technical musical background (more on that later).

One small complaint: most of the music titles are given in German only. Since there are hundreds of such cases, it was impractical to do always search for a translation on the internet so I'm sure I missed a few points. For example the titles of Bach's first three key teaching works are listed - with only the first in English. Wolff then says that "the carefully coordinated phraseology of all three titles" were impressive!
Fortunately, the German version of "The Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach" is obvious in meaning but shamefully without translation: for many of us, one of our first piano pieces came from that notebook!

Finally, this is not a complaint, but a warning. You will have great difficulty with this book if you don't have some background in musical terminology, notation, and Baroque music history. You should know the meaning of terms like "basso continuo", "counterpoint", "thoroughbass" (figured bass), etc. to appreciate the text. For example, there is much discussion of Bach's role in the evolution of the "Fugue". Other forms, such as the "motet" (sacred music not an integral part of the mass) are mentioned without definition. For such a background, I would recommend Kamien's "Music An Appreciation, Ed.8" - or a less expensive alternative that covers music from the Middle Ages to the Baroque Period.

A scholarly masterpiece worthy of your intelligence!
This book is most ostensibly not a work intended to provide a layman's knowledge of Bach. The book assumes a fair knowledge of Bach and his oeuvre, as well as a thorough knowledge of music theory and general instrumentation. Cristoph Wolff has written a thoroughly satisfying and extraordinarily comprehensive summary of Bach's professional and personal lives. I found that despite the book's intrinsically serious tone, reading it as a whole felt not like a biography, but a story that us Bach fanatics wish would never end.

This book is thoroughly impressive in both its scope and its detail, though the numerous tables cataloguing Bach's work from the various periods such as Weimar and Cothen are not as well integrated in text as one might hope. Where Wolff makes the occasional reference to the tables, I as the reader desired to see more comparison and analysis of various works in each period.

It is also immediately apparent upon even a glance through the index that Wolff dedicates much of his analysis of Bach's major works to Bach's vocal music, and notably less space to Bach's instrumental and keyboard/organ music. As we know, Bach's Fugue "the Great" in G minor, BWV 542, is a towering masterpiece of Bach's (and Baroque) organ music, but Wolff hardly affords it the analysis it demands. He also neglects to develop much depth of analysis with Bach's instrumental works. For example, we know that nearly all of Bach's solo and multiple piano concerti have their roots in previous concerti, but little attention is paid as to why Bach chose to transcribe to piano(harpsichord), why he selected the works he did, and whether there is a distinct method/pattern to Bach's transcriptions.

Wolff does do, however, an exquisite job of analysis of Bach's vocal music, exploring the depth of Bach's passion for writing cantatas, and how skillfully he was able to interpet his vision of the words into music. Wolff provides numerous glimpses of Bach's organ expertise, especially in the field of repair and construction. These descriptions do require some prior knowledge of how an organ produces sound and how it is played in order to be enjoyed to the fullest. The book also does a magnificient job of exploring and relating the various and primary influences on Bach's musical development and style. Wolff provides an insight into the influence of Dietrich Buxtehude especially, as well as that of Johann Pachelbel and the numerous older Bach relations. Much has been heaped upon Mozart's child prodigy fame, but even those of us for whom Bach is a perpetual favorite, know little about Bach's formative years, and Wolff gives a very comprehensive look at Bach's musical training.

Wolff's small digressions notwithstanding, this book is truly one every lover of Bach should keep in his library. (And reread every so often!)

Detailed and Learned but Ultimately Unrewarding
This is a very detailed book covering a great deal about the life of Bach. A great deal of insight is on offer regarding the great man's life and times as well as the likely basis under which he produced his work. I have found that reading and re-reading this book has significantly enahnced my understanding of Bach's world - Thuringia in the first half of the 18th century.

There is more detail here in terms of how Bach lived and his day to day relations, both personal and professional, than anyone could possibly need. In terms of factual aspects concerning Bach and his life one could not expect or need anything more that this book and in this regard the book is successful; Christolph Wolff has been more than thorough in his research. So many points of detail are listed that I thought that I would come across one of Bach's laundry lists if I read for long enough. It could be said that there is actually too much detail here which doesn't significantly more forward one's understanding of Bach the man or Bach the musician. However, in an academic book such as this it is generally accepted that a surfeit of information does not constitute a lapse of quality. Concise is not an adjective which could be applied to the author.

However, there are two drawbacks for me in this book. The first is a relatively minor point but the second is very significant.

The first drawback is that the content of the book is, at times, meandering. Wolff seems to move around subjects and themes within a single chapter leaving the reader confused and unsatisfied. While there is plenty of information - sometimes too much even - the underlying structure is confused and confusing. This can appear as a meandering text which sometimes seems to lose the idea of the point it is pursuing. This is more a matter of style than an outright criticim however.

The second drawback is far more significant for me. Most people who would go to the extent of buying and reading this book would have a specific interest in Bach; that is his music represents something special to them. Many such readers will view Bach as a great genius; I am in that camp myself, no doubt so is Christolph Wolff. The main point about Bach is his musical, expecially compositorial skill. Why then is there no analysis of Bach's genius? How and where did it originate and how did it develop in his lifetime? How, in the view of the author, does Bach's genius manifest itself in his works. What is it about Bach which has raised his work to such an exalted level - how is this different to his contemporaries? The author scant regard to where Bach's creativity ebb and flow and how this manifested itself in his work. Little effort seems to be made in this book to consider the work of Bach in terms of how it could be analysed and contrasted - surely this is of primary importance in understanding Bach and his music.

I'm afraid that the dry factual/quantative approach which Wolff takes with regard to Bach's creative process is ultimately unrewarding for me. Most people who listen to Bach would be interested to hear the different musical aspects of, say the Masses. Why is the B Minor Mass considered great and how could it be compared in musical terms to the Mass in F for instance.
Which of Bach's cantatas are the ones to focus on when trying to expand one's understanding of his oeuvre? Merely listing the various Cantata cycles is not sufficient in terms of understanding the qualitative aspects of the music.

While this book gets behind the day to day Bach it does not give any insight into the creative core of Bach. This is certainly not easy given the essentially unknowable aspects of creative genius and the elapsed time since Bach's life - however I would have appreciated some effort on this front.

No book can serve the purposes of all potential readers and what this book covers it does in quality and detail. However an analysis of Bach's life should never be divorced from an analysis of his genius which the author seems to have done here.

Christolph Wolff is clearly a man who understands the life and times of Bach in great detail but I would have preferred to see more focus on the qualitative aspects of Bachs music.

In summary, then an informative and useful factual book but one which misses the opportunity to inform the reader as to the practicalities of the works of the great genius Bach.

Best book ever on Bach
The usual view of Bach's life that I grew up with portrays him as something of a musical hermit, producing masterpieces and children at a prolific rate in relative anonymity with little or no earthly recognition. This book completely revises my view of Bach's life. Wolff shows Bach as a fantastically well-rounded and charismatic musician with a fantastic ability to create masterpieces, a great teacher, well loved and respected member of the community, a profound and simple Christian, and a fundamentally happy, joyful, complete man. Wolff also tries to show that Bach was the greatest musician who ever lived, and does a pretty convincing job at that. I always knew Bach was a great musician; this book simply reinforces and proves my intuition. His intermittant references to Newton are a little annoying and indicative of the hyperbole Wolff sometimes uses, but one gets used to them. The book also shows his human side - his mercurial temperment, his sometimes overbearing and demanding personality, and his greed. This book contains an enormous amount of personal information on Bach, far more than I knew existed. Wolff writes well and does not use an inordinate amount of musical terminology, so a musical illiterate like myself can still read and enjoy him. If you love Bach's music get this book, and you might as well the New Bach Reader along with it, as a good percentage of the quotes in Wolff's come directly from this source.

A Great Book on Bach's Life and Influence
J.S. Bach has been my longtime favorite classical composer, but while I knew he was one of the most influential composers in history, I never quite knew why. Moreover, he always seemed to have a tacit reputation as being rule-bound and stern, unlike the more dynamic, perhaps more charismatic, figures of Mozart and Beethoven (the latter's horrible temper notwithstanding). Cristoph Wolff's book has at last provided me with a fuller picture of Bach and his influence.

The subtitle "The Learned Musician" sets a primary theme for the work, namely Bach as the scholar-musician, who was able to pass rigorous theology exams in Latin and whose mastery of organ building was a significant achievement of engineering, math and acoustics, to say nothing of raw musical genius. A motif that crops up in this book is the comparison between Bach and Newton (which was made in Bach's time). Bach thought that there were rules of causality in canons just like there is causality in Nature, and used other musical pieces to explore theological concepts. Musical science is no mere metaphor applied by Wolff to Bach, but is something that the composer himself took very serious, and this was realized even by some of his contemporaries. Likewise Wolff also points out that this does not mean that Bach was some soulless theoretician either. Rather, Bach's work worked within rules of composition, but also broke and surpassed them when necessary. Bach refused to divorce theory from practice, so his collections of music like the Well-Tempered Clavier and the Art of the Fugue served to show how a particular form of music (e.g., the keyboard or the fugue) could be applied in just about any combination imaginable. These compositions were theoretical statements, albeit ones without words. Wolff does not get too bogged down in musical terms: this layman did struggle periodically, and I would understand more if I were a musician, but a lack of music theory would not destroy this books value to you.

Throughout the book Wolff shows how Bach's methodical perfectionism formed a powerful combination when joined with Bach's surprisingly passionate, joyful life. Just as his music was rigorous, Wolff also points out the profound, genuine emotion that goes into them. He also writes about some of Bach's comic cantatas--one in particular was written for a coffeehouse, and was written on coffee addiction. This did much to endear Bach to this college graduate's heart!

Just as important, Wolff presents Bach's musical odysseys within the context of his personal life. Troubles and triumphs with jobs, Bach's family life and personal anecdotes appear throughout the book with a special chapter at the end also dedicated to Bach's later home life. We learn of a man who always entertained guests despite a brutal work schedule, and who also managed to find time to buy his wife singing birds and flowers. Much of his life would sound quite familiar in America (e.g., rebellious sons, moving to a city with a better-paying job, etc.), and does much to remind us that Bach is a man, not some musical force of nature.

In the end, we have a picture of a man who used his art to explore nature and God, but did so with joy and while surrounded with a family to support and superiors to placate in the workplace. Now I have a foundation for appreciating some of his works that I never studied before, namely Bach's Masses and cantatata, and my appreciation for other works. I had previously read and enjoyed Douglas Hofstadter's _Godel, Escher, Bach_ (which I also recommend), and now I can why Hofstadter chose Bach to help him explore the nature of intelligence in both man and computers. Bach was truly a sort of scientist or natural philosopher, and Wolff lets you appreciate how Bach was both a philosopher and composer of beautiful music. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This engagingly eccentric biography by German playwright and television scriptwriter Klaus Eidam performs the valuable service of knocking off the dust accumulated around Bach (1685-1750) by generations of writers more concerned with their own musical, religious, or political theories than the particulars of the composer's life. Eidam has as little use for Marxist scholars declaring Bach "the musician of the Enlightenment" as he does for their precursors who declared the composer to be so devout that he viewed his art only as a means to praise God. His aim is to restore Bach to the general public as a musician first and foremost, well versed in the techniques and instruments of his day, deeply immersed in his artistic goals.

To this end, Eidam spends a good deal of time quarreling with previous biographers about everything from whether or not Bach's second marriage was a love match to the precise circumstances under which he departed his post at Weimar. Although it's accessibly written and thorough, this is not really the book for readers seeking a recital of the accepted facts about Bach's life. Biography connoisseurs, however, will relish Eidam's marvelous bluntness, as when he comments of an alleged Bach authority's ideas, "Such claims provoke me to so much head-shaking they make me suspect I suffer from Parkinson's disease," and his valuable reality checks on predecessors' insufficiently documented speculations. (Translator Hoyt Rogers has maintained the author's contentious tone in English.)

Locating Bach firmly in the context of the gritty intrigues by which composers got and kept musical positions in 18th-century Germany, Eidam also manages to convey appreciation for his timeless genius. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Finally, Bach as a real person
Although I do not have a musicological background, I have loved the music of Bach for years and have read many of the extant biographies: Boyd, Wolff, Spitta, etc. Of all the biographies, I found Mr. Eidam's to be the best at creating an understanding of the man who created such divine music without perpetuating myths or attempting to explain Bach's personality based upon his musical art. Mr. Eidam admirably highlights the irony inherent in the fact that Bach produced such sublime art in the face of continual opposition from lesser intellects.

I did not find the language of the english translation to be distracting and found the work to be refreshingly free of musical theory that while interesting does not increase one's understanding of the man himself. Instead, the reader is left with a deep and abiding appreciation for Bach's untiring efforts, in the face of incredible opposition, to share with the world a miraculous music that only he could hear.

Not a biogaphy, a critique
I divide this book in two parts. An interesting view of Bach's life, quite different from the "standard", and a book review to complain of the other biographies. If he concentrated in his view on Bach's life it would be an interesting book. His comments about the other biographers belong in the end notes. They are not a part of the story of Bach. I read foot notes, mind you, but including them in the text only detracts from the flow of the story.
His comments about the music per-se are very interesting. They served my purpose, in buying this book. But once again, if I bought the author's book it is because I would like to know what he thinks ... not why other musicologist are wrong in their evaluation. Mine might be wrong, and that is why I want other's opinion, not their opinion on other people.

Shame on you Basic Books!
What a shame! That a respected publisher like Basic Books would release a text in such a sorry state. As a translator, I don't like to criticize my colleagues, but the language of this translation is appalling. It reads as though the translator, in many places, just put English words in place of the German. When I ran some of the sentences by some colleagues, they all agreed that they could see the German syntax through the English text.

While the translator is at fault, the publisher is guilty of not taking the blue pencil to this text. This gives such gems as:

Legend has praised one of the Bachs to the skies in particular:

... they made music that was not to be sneezed at.

That the sons would also become musicians was taken for granted.

Of their childhood there was nothing left.

Though time-consuming in any event, the experience was nonetheless rewarding...

To Luther's Reformation belonged above all the lively participation of the congregation in the worship service, especially the German hymns that were sung together, and therefore the cultivation of church music.

These sentences, all taken from the first couple of chapters, stand out like potholes in the road of reading. I couldn't go any further than page 18.

Save your money...

Eccentric revisionism, entertaining
This comprehensive biography clears up 250 years' worth of legend with a new reading of the documentary evidence around Bach's life as uncovered through the author's extensive research. Engagingly and eccentric in opinion it makes us wonder that much of what we think we know of the composers and their music is more fiction and fancy that biography and social history, enough so that I wonder along with the author about the lives of other composers. The picture of Bach is one of a struggling musician who made some serious career move mistakes which if it did not noticeably affect his art at least cause injury to his social standing and livelihood. Well worth a read for the context it puts the creation of his music in to. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An entertaining juvenile biography of J. S. Bach
Having enjoyed Mike Venezia's Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series, I had some doubts about his World's Greatest Composers series for the simple reason that music does not have the same visual dimension as paintings (I figured that out all by myself). One of the strengths of the Artists series was that Venezia could provide examples of famous paintings by the likes of Rembrandt or Van Gogh and talk specifically about artistic technique. Consequently, more often than not, those volumes constituted mini-lessons in art appreciation for young readers. However, even when these Greatest Composers volumes are reduced to being just juvenile biographies, they still constitute a delightful look at a famous person.

In the case of Johan Sebastian Bach we find once again the delightful combination of historic paintings of Bach and his times, along with Venezia's wickedly funny but still informative cartoons (e.g., Bach as a tester and repairer of organs). Young readers will be astounded by the fact that Bach has 20 children, four of whom went out to be composers of note as well, but even more so by the revelation that Bach's music was not especially popular in his own time because it was too "new." Hopefully reading this volume will get young readers interested in the music of Bach: my strong suggestion would be that a youngster reading this book should also be able to listen to Bach's music. Any of the decent Bach collections of "greatest hits" should have "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" and excerpts from "The Brandenburg Concertos," as well as examples of the various types of music composed by Bach and talked about in this volume. This would be true for any volume in this series, which includes volumes on great composers from Ludwig Van Beethoven to The Beatles! ... Read more

Book Description

Enter the world of Johann Sebastian Bach through this illuminating collection of readings. The New Bach Reader reveals the life and career of Bach through hundreds of letters, family papers, anecdotes, and records relating to his personal and professional life. The original Bach Reader, edited by the late Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel in 1945, established a new approach to biography by offering original documents in impeccable translations. In The New Bach Reader, Christoph Wolff of Harvard University has incorporated numerous facsimiles and added many newly discovered items. Taken together, the readings in this volume provide music lovers with a fascinating, almost firsthand account of the composer and his environment. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

THE SUPREME BACH in his own words and thoughts!
All worshippers of JS Bach need to acquire this informative and satisfying journal dedicated to the absolutely most profoundly sublime genious in all of music. If having all of Bach's masterworks in your CD collection wasn't enough...you need to add this book for further intellectual stimulation because here Bach is presented in his OWN WORDS! Every example of written coorespondence by Bach and his contemporaries concerning him has been preserved and translated from the hand of Bach's penmanship and presented to the reader. As a result, we can glimpse into another facet of the mind behind the music. Although most of the letters were written to either one offical or another (and therefore embellished with the standard nomenclatures of the time), I was able to detect exasperation, sarcasm, fearlessness, austerity, humor, ridicule and sorrow in much of them. In the vast majority of the wordy, complex style of his coorespondence we begin to see that Bach composed his complaints in much the same vein he composed fugues; lavish phrases, requests and expostulations are intertwined in the most respectful manner to his superiors...and simultaneuosly he projects an attitude that if his needs are not met he will resort to higher means...usually meaning petitioning the King himself (which on one occasion he ultimately did!) His complaints ranged from objectional wages, unruly choirboys, the relegations of authority, and his delinquent son (in which the debtors were now pestoring Bach to compensate). It is true that not many personal references by Bach have come down to us, but there are a few morsels for us to dwell on; his declining a gift from a cousin stating that the tax required was much to high for the parcel itself, he mentions with regret a flask of wine that broke open (accidentally?) while on route in the mail and spilled out, and how not too many people were dying...so unfortunately he wasnt making out too well on funeral music composition. We begin to see that apart from his unsurpassable genious and intellect, he was very much a normal person...even a bit dull. He certainly had a dry sense of humor and had absolutely zero tolerance for people he thought were using him...and for those he thought were not taking him seriously. The is one instance where he got into a street fight at the marketplace, another instance where he was reprimanded for introducing "strange sounds and alterations in the harmonic structure" during mass at the organ (the buddings of his genious). He was interrogated for bringing a "strange maiden" up to the organ loft with him. He even spent some time in jail for being too stubborn when his leave was denied (he was looking for better work and his employers refused to let him go). He was reprimanded for overstaying leave time on another occasion (by like 2 months!) hanging out in Lubeck to see Buxtehude play. He had no qualms whatsoever in disqualifying students from his instruction if they showed any from of recalcitrance or inept musical talent. Buy this book! You can read all about these things and more from the REAL letters! There is plenty of praise and accolades to go along with it, both by his contemporaries and posthumurous composers. Read about Mendelsohn's debut of the St Matthew's Passion (100 years after Bach performed it last) written by the tenor who sang Christ's lines in the score during that performance! Look at the replicated facsimilies of Bach's letters in his own hand! The book is full of paintings of Bach...in all stages of his career. Read his letters and get some insight into the turmoil and altercations, of the humor and sarcasm of the greatest genious of music this world has ever known. His music is immortal and nothing can even come close; not even the greatest works of Mozart or Beethoven can overshadow the universal sublimity and unsurpassed ecstasy the world can find the the music of the Almighty Johann Sebastian Bach.

What an incredible resource
I have been studying this book for the last 2 months. The amount of information that is in this book, and not many others, is incredible. Actual letters from JS Bach showing how he feels. Descriptions of performances that were only available from PhD's in the past are available to you in this publication.

On the subject of J.S. Bach, this is one of the best resources I have found. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

not bad, but there are better bios of bach
This is not a bad introduction to the life and music of J.S. Bach, however it is nowhere as well written or informative as Christoph Wolff's biography. I found myself falling to sleep reading Boyd, but the Wolff kept me interested all the way. Wolff also presents the death of Bach's parents as a much more central experience, which I found Boyd tended to place less significance on. This is not a poor book, it is just that the Wolff bio is so much better.

An Outstanding Biography of Bach
Bach scholarship was turned upside down in the 1950s by the acceptance of new scholarship by Alfred Durr and Georg Dadelsen which established a new chronology and authenticity for Bach's music. It took about 30 years for Bach biography to catch up and digest the implications of the new discoveries. Bach biographies published before 1960 are frequently inaccurate in many details, and this include Spitta's famous 3 volume study. Of the recent books on Bach, Professor Boyd's book is one of the very best and the place for anyone with an interest in Bach to start their exploration of his life and work.

A fine summary of the life and works of J.S.Bach.
This book provides an analyical and important summary of the greatest of all 18th century composers. Boyd succeeds in providing the life of Bach in context with the musical conditions of 18th century Germany, but adds his own perspective as seen from the end of the 20th century. I found this book most enjoyable, along the likes of other biographies of Bach, including Spitta and Schweitzer. To be added to the Bach Plucked! web site's recommended reading list.

Michael Stitt ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (4)

A wonderful musician bio
This book is wonderfully written. It tells a mini-story of Bach's life in a very child-friendly way. It touches on his birth (and death) and his religious life. The focus is on Bach - not his religion. The artwork is vibrant and I highly recommend the book.

Music Was His Life.....
Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a family of musicians. All the Bachs played musical instruments, and young Sebastian was no exception. But even more than the joy of playing, Bach loved composing his own music. "Sebastian heard the music in his head. The melodies came fast- as his pen raced over the page, he rarely changed a note. He heard one melody for the violin, one for the trumpet, one for the flute, and one for the oboe. Each instrument had its own voice. And when all the voices sounded at the same time, it was like good friends talking together." Bach married, had twenty children, and settled in Leipzig where he was the church music and choir director. He worked all day teaching his students and playing the organ, and composed all night as "new music filled Sebastian's head." During his life, Bach wrote over one thousand compositions. It is said that even as he took his dying breath, he was composing one last piece..... Jeanette Winter has written an engaging and informative, introductory picture book biography that brings Bach and his times to life on the page. Her simple, spare, yet eloquent prose is lyrical and poetic, and complemented by her evocative, vibrant, and expressive signature folk art paintings. Together word and art give youngsters a real feeling for the intensity of Bach's great love and devotion to both playing and composing music. Perfect for reading aloud, or for early readers 6-10, Sebastian is a fascinating and entertaining biography that will whet the appetite of budding musicians, and send them out looking for more.

Perfection In Read Aloud Picture Book Bios
Winter has achieved another perfect picturebook bio for reading aloud (see My Name Is Georgia and Diego Rivera). Simply told, with beautiful language this book is a keeper! Wow, she's an awesome illustrator too! Music teachers across the country should be buying multiple copies for their classrooms! Buy it!

If we could only give it more stars!
My daughter and I loved this book! It's story is easily understood and the beautiful illustrations are sweet and peaceful and really bring the words to life. While the author did write about Bach's church music, she did not mention his devotion to God. But there are other books about that. This is a book for everyone. ... Read more

Book Description

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. ... Read more

Book Description

Detailing the childhood lives of famous artists, this series begins with composers, showing young readers some of the amazing things that have been accomplished by children. The stories both educate and inspire children to be creative, work hard, and follow their dreams.

Niños famosos esta dedicado contar los cuentos sobre las vidas infantiles de los músicos, artistas y escritores, mostrando su genialidad, creatividad, y sus obras a todos los lectores pequeños. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Needs more facts, less speculative dialogue
My daughter had to do a biography book report on Bach, and came home with a book written in 1932. I bought six of these "famous children" books to supplement the school library. Although they are listed as appropriate for ages 4-8, I would say ages 4-6 is more accurate. Particularly annoying is the ficticious dialogue included. One of the famous composers is quoted as saying "Yuck!" in response to something he doesn't like. The print would be better spent on narrative facts about their lives and childhood rather than the silly dialogue. It wouldn't hurt to include a bit more information on the adult life of the composers, since nothing currently exists in the literature geared for children.
The books in the series by Tony Hart don't suffer this same problem. They are filled with artwork by the artists and generic dialogue that is more believable. A huge gap still exists for biographical information on these great people, especially for the 8 to 12 year old crowd. As a side note, the Beethoven book sent to us was in Spanish. This was a problem for another customer of this series, so someone needs to do a better job of managing the merchandise.

Keeps A Child's Interest
Nice Large Type, but Vocabulary seems a bit large in a few places. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Comprehensive, authentic and very instructive.
Dr. Schweitzer himself is an excellent interpretor of Bach's music, especially his organ music. His christian belief put him closer to the heart of the great German composer. Everyone who is seriously interested in Bach should read this book which is full of information and insight. To those who not only listen music but alos feel it, the book is will be a spiritual revelation. Shortcoming: in comparsion with German version, some translation is a bit vague or inaccurate. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

be careful
This is volume 2 of a 3 volume work. Unfortunately you can't tell that from the product description unless you read the cover page very carefully. Volume 2 is 700+ pages long. I have not been able to find volumes 1 and 3. Would not have purchased this had I known it wasn't the "complete" Spitta. ("Unabridged" shown on the web site is "Unabridged-in 3 volumes" when you're able to read the cover of the book). ... Read more

Book Description

1928. This work is a record of Johann Sebastian Bach's career, not a critical appreciation of his music. His personality has been so buried under the towering pyramid of his manuscript that, for most of us, he is but faintly visible on a background of the Bachgesellschaft folios. Contents: family; school; apprenticeship; young organist; Weimar; Cothen; Das jetzt florirende Leipzig; director musices; battle of the prefects; last years. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An Excellent Biography of Bach for the Non-Specialist Reader
Every six months or so I find myself in a 'Bach period'; that is to say, I become immersed in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and don't seem to want any other kind of music for a while. I'm in the midst of one of these periods as I write this review. I came across this 1995 book at my local library and have been utterly delighted by it. Otto Bettmann, the author, is a non-musician who is best known for having founded the Bettmann Archive - you've seen its cutline hundreds of times alongside pictures in books and magazines - a comprehensive collection of historic pictures. He was born in Leipzig and in his childhood lived in a house across the street from the Thomaskirche where Bach spent twenty-seven years as Cantor. He even sang in the Thomaskirche boys' choir as a youth.

The lavishly illustrated 235-page book is organized like an encyclopedia with one- or two-page articles arranged alphabetically by subject. They cover the range of Bach's life and activities from 'Abendmusik' (the regular musical soirée held by Buxtehude in Lübeck where Bach visited and stayed four months) to 'Zeitgeist' (an article about the spirit of the times in which Bach lived and worked). Other representative articles include such topics as 'Anhalt-Cöthen,' 'Cantor or Capellmeister?,' 'Fugal Wizardry,' 'Goldberg Variations,' 'Kaffee Kantate,' 'Money Matters,' 'Organist Supreme,' 'Quaffing,' 'Summation Works,' 'Wanderlust,' among many others. One may read the book straight through or dip into it here and there; each method has its rewards. Bettmann's prose style is relaxed, entertaining, often wry, and yet factually solid and coherent. He repeatedly makes the point that Bach was a much livelier person than the usual picture we have of him as the stern Cantor of Leipzig.

Also included are a pleasant foreword by Martin Bookspan who, among other things, sings the praises of Otto Bettmann (who, by the way, wrote this book when he was in his 90s!; he died in 1998 at 95), a glossary of musical terms, a chronology of Bach's life, an index and an extensive bibliography.

This book is perfect for the general reader who doesn't have the background or the patience to read the more scholarly books on Bach by such illustrious biographers as Philipp Spitta, Albert Schweitzer, Karl Geiringer, or Christoph Wolff.

Scott Morrison

For Love of Bach
From age six the great photo archivist Otto Bettmann lived in an apartment about five hundred feet from Leipzig's St Thomaskirche, and as a boy sang in its choir. Hence sprang a life-long love affair with the music and personal history of J. S. Bach. A product of his later years, Bettmann's Johann Sebastian Bach As His World Knew Him is a loving and informative portrait of Bach the man, and an insightful look at Bach's music and times.

Presented in the format of an encyclopedia, the book invites one to browse from topic to topic. Read cover to cover, one receives a well-rounded portrait, more in the style of an oral history than of a linear narrative.

Bettman was one of the word's greatest photo archivists, much to the benefit of this book. It is filled with photos and illustrations, some familiar, some quite rare, all expertly captioned.

This is not a scholarly treatise, and makes no pretenses to be one. Rather, it is the brilliant tribute of a one remarkable man for another. It is a real shame that this book was so quickly remaindered. We need more books like it. I won't be parting with my copy, so I wish you best of luck in finding one of your own. It is worth the search! ... Read more

Book Description

This basic, one-volume study of Johann Sebastian Bach combines a sensitive biographical sketch with a detailed analysis of each of his major types of composition, including vocal music, organ music, keyboard music, and instrumental music.In each section, Geiringer thoroughly examines many Bach compositions and evaluates them in relation to the rest of the composer's work, as well as in relation to the music of his contemporaries.More than seventy musical examples enable the reader to understand how Bach worked and to observe his music in various stages of completion.In addition, an interesting aspect of research methods is revealed through an explanation of the techniques used in studying handwriting, paper, and watermarks in the original sources. ... Read more

Book Description

This beautifully illustrated series of eight books introduces children in grades 2 through 6 to the influential composers of the late 17th through the early 20th centuries. For music-lovers and those just discovering the world of the the creative arts, The World of Composers is the perfect guide for research and for leisure reading.