This is a completely revised 2003 edition of volumes I and II of The Organ Music of J. S. Bach (1980), a bestselling title, which has subsequently become a classic text. This edition takes account of Bach scholarship of the 25 years prior to publication. Peter Williams's piece-by-piece commentary puts the musical sources of the organ works in context, describing the form and content of each work and relating them to other music, German and non-German. He summarises the questions about the history, authenticity, chronology, function and performance of each piece, and points out important details of style and musical quality. The study follows the order of the Bach catalogue (BWV), beginning with the sonatas, then the 'free works', followed by chorales and ending with the doubtful works, including the 'newly discovered chorales' of 1985.

These paperback editions makes Peter Williams's influential scholarship available to a wider field of readers, including those with an interest in the ever-expanding discussions of original instrumentation and its implications for modern performance. Professor Williams examines Bach's organ works piece-by-piece, reconstructing for the present-day performer and listener the original context of the work. Form and style are analysed, with abundant musical examples and frequent allusions to the views of other commentators. Each volume contains a preface, calendar, lists of musical sources and references, and an index.

Bach's organ works--the best-known of all music ever written for the instrument--have been the subject of a great variety of interpretations, all too often based on subjective opinion and conjecture. What the author does in this piece-by-piece commentary is to combine a performer's insight and experience with the fruits of scholarly research. He is concerned throughout to reconstruct for the modern performer and listener the original context of the work: its sources and history; its place in the composer's development; the implications of contemporary instruments and performing practice, and of the musical and aesthetic theories of the time; and the background which shaped Bach's view of the original chorale melodies. Each of the collections of organ chorales is examined as an entity in a preliminary essay. Then for each piece the author discusses the important sources and their relationship; quotes the underlying chorale melody and one or more verses of the text (with a literal translation) and describes its importance in the life of Bach's church; and analyses the form and style of the organ setting, with many musical examples and frequent allusions to the views of other commentators.

"Published in cooperation with the American Bach Society."

A top-selling organ music book. Edited and arranged by E. Power Biggs (1906-1977). Includes a biographical sketch of the very influential Mr. Biggs. Titles: Adagio (for the Glass Harmonica or Musical Glasses) (W. A. Mozart) * All Glory Be to God on High (Festival Prelude for Organ) (J. S. Bach) * Andante (from Concerto No. 3 in B-flat) (W. Felton) * Prelude on Ave Verum Corpus (W. A. Mozart) * A Christmas Pastorale (from The Christmas Concerto) (G. Valentini) * The Cuckoo (L. C. d'Aquin) * The Emperor's Fanfare (from Sixth Double Concerto) (A. Soler) * The Faithful Shepherd (Pastorale) (G. F. Handel) * The Fifers (F. Dandrieu) * Firework Music (Suite from the Music for the Royal Fireworks) (G. F. Handel) * Fugue in C Major (The "Fanfare" Fugue) (J. S. Bach) * God's Time Is the Best (Sinfonia to Cantata No. 106) (J. S. Bach) * I Stand at the Threshold (Sinfonia to Cantata No. 156) (J. S. Bach) * Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (from Cantata No. 147) (J. S. Bach) * The Musical Clocks (from a Suite of Twelve Pieces) (F. J. Haydn) * Offertoire for Easter (On the Melody "O Filii et Filiae") (F. Dandrieu) * Sheep May Safely Graze (In G) (from Cantata No. 208 -- The "Birthday Cantata") (J. S. Bach) * The Shepherds at the Manger (from the Piano Suite "The Christmas Tree") (F. Liszt) * Sinfonia, Chorale and Variation (from the Easter Cantata -- No. 4 -- "Christ Lay in Death's Dark Prison") (J. S. Bach) * Slow Movement (from Concerto in D Minor) (A. Vivaldi/J. S. Bach) * A Solemn Prelude (from Cantata No. 21 -- "Sighing, Weeping, Sorrow, Need") (J. S. Bach) * The Trophy (F. Couperin). "Minuet Finale from Firework Music," "Overture from Firework Music," and "Rejoicing from Firework Music" are Federation Festivals 2016-2020 selections.

Peter Williams approaches afresh the life and music of arguably the most studied of all composers, interpreting both Bach's life by deconstructing his original obituary in the light of more recent information and his music by evaluating his priorities and irrepressible creative energy. How, even though belonging to musical families on both his parents' sides, did he come to possess so bewitching a sense of rhythm and melody and a mastery of harmony that established nothing less than a norm in Western culture? In considering that the works of a composer are his biography, the book's title A Life in Music means both a life spent making music and one revealed in the music as we know it. A distinguished scholar and performer, Williams re-examines Bach's life as an orphan and family man, as an extraordinarily gifted composer and player and as an ambitious artist who never suffered fools gladly.