An exploration of Bach's motets in the context of the German motet tradition.

Now available in paperback, this landmark biography was first published in 2000 to mark the 250th anniversary of J. S. Bach's death. Written by a leading Bach scholar, this book presents a new picture of the composer. Christoph Wolff demonstrates the intimate connection between Bach's life and his music, showing how the composer's superb inventiveness pervaded his career as a musician, composer, performer, scholar, and teacher.

Publisher Description

This Composer Companion is a unique and definitive guide to the life, music, and legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach. Now available in paperback, it will be an invaluable resource for scholars, students, performers, and all Bach and Baroque-music enthusiasts. With more than 900 entries, arranged in A-Z order for ease of reference, supplemented by illustrations and music examples, and written by more than 40 distinguished contributors, it brings together an unparalleled range of information onone of the greatest composers who has ever lived. It offers detailed information about Bach's life - his family, friends, colleagues, and pupils, his career as a performer, teacher, and composer - and about the historical, cultural, religious, and musical context in which he worked. Individual works are treated at length, as are the genres and conventions from which they grew, and scoring, instrumentation, and performance practice from Bach's day to the present. It also covers the impact Bach's music has had since his death - his growing reputation, famous interpreters of his music, the composers who have been influenced by him, and the festivals devoted to him. The main alphabetical text is supplemented by a map, a family tree, a chronology, a list of works, opening lines of vocal works, and a glossary of specialist terms.

This last in a two-volume study examines Bach's musical compositional development in his later years, including his time at Cðthen and Leipzig.