Bach

Bach has remained a figure of continuous fascination and interest to scholars and readers since the original Master Musicians Bach volume's publication in 1983 - even since its revision in 2000, understanding of Bach and his music's historical and cultural context has shifted substantially.
Reflecting new biographical information that has only emerged in recent decades, author David Schulenberg contributes to an ongoing scholarly conversation about Bach with clarity and concision.

Bach traces the man's emergence as a startlingly original organist and composer, describing his creative evolution, professional career, and family life from contemporary societal and cultural perspectives in early modern Europe. His experiences as student, music director, and teacher are examined
alongside the music he produced in each of these roles, including early compositions for keyboard instruments, the great organ and harpsichord works of later years, vocal music, and other famous instrumental works, including the Brandenburg Concertos. Schulenberg also illuminates how Bach
incorporated his contemporary environment into his work: he responded to music by other composers, to his audiences and employment conditions, and to developments in poetry, theology, and even the sciences. The author focuses on Bach's evolution as a composer by ultimately recognizing "Bach's world"
in the specific cities, courts, and environments within and for which he composed. Dispensing with biographical minutiae and more closely examining the interplay between his life and his music, Bach presents a unique, grounded, and refreshing new framing of a brilliant composer.

"Bach is an entirely new volume in the "Master Musicians" series, replacing the old entry by Malcolm Boyd with updated coverage of the composer's life and works. Tracing the composer's biography from origins in Thuringia to mastery as cantor and music director at Leipzig, the book sets Bach in the cultural context of early modern Europe. Family life, social structure, and court culture are among the topics examined from the perspective of contemporary approaches to history. Bach's work as student, organist, music director, and teacher is considered alongside his compositions, with discussions of representative examples from all the major categories, including concertos, cantatas, chamber music, and pieces for harpsichord and for organ. In addition to a handy list of works and other useful reference matter included in every volume of the series, this book is also accompanied by an online supplement that offers a glossary, a guide to further reading, and audio versions of the numerous music examples"--

"This is a Bach biography for our time--steeped in the tradition of Bach studies but up to date on the latest research; fluent in the received legacy of Bach but willing to rethink inherited views. Everyone from Bach lovers to students to performers will learn from this worthy successor to Malcolm
Boyd's volume. We may have our doubts in the 21st century about the idea of a Master Musician, but David Schulenberg clearly demonstrates Bach's central place in our musical world and expertly introduces the compositions that put him there." -- Daniel R. Melamed, Indiana University, and President,
American Bach Society

"A superbly lucid, down-to-earth portrait of Bach the man that at the same time seeks to get to the heart of what was so unique about his extraordinary musical achievements." -- Bettina Varwig, University of Cambridge

"Dispensing with biographical minutiae and more closely examining the interplay between his life and his music, Bach presents a unique, grounded, and refreshing new framing of a brilliant composer.' I can only agree." -- Andrew Benson-Wilson, Andrew Benson-Wilson Early Music Reviews