Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work

Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work PDF Author: Christoph Wolff
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393651797
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
A concentrated study of Johann Sebastian Bach’s creative output and greatest pieces, capturing the essence of his art. Throughout his life, renowned and prolific composer Johann Sebastian Bach articulated his views as a composer in purely musical terms; he was notoriously reluctant to write about his life and work. Instead, he methodically organized certain pieces into carefully designed collections. These benchmark works, all of them without parallel or equivalent, produced a steady stream of transformative ideas that stand as paradigms of Bach’s musical art. In this companion volume to his Pulitzer Prize–finalist biography, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, leading Bach scholar Christoph Wolff takes his cue from his famous subject. Wolff delves deeply into the composer’s own rich selection of collected music, cutting across conventional boundaries of era, genre, and instrument. Emerging from a complex and massive oeuvre, Bach’s Musical Universe is a focused discussion of a meaningful selection of compositions—from the famous Well-Tempered Clavier, violin and cello solos, and Brandenburg Concertos to the St. Matthew Passion, Art of Fugue, and B-minor Mass. Unlike any study undertaken before, this book details Bach’s creative process across the various instrumental and vocal genres. This array of compositions illustrates the depth and variety at the essence of the composer’s musical art, as well as his unique approach to composition as a process of imaginative research into the innate potential of his chosen material. Tracing Bach’s evolution as a composer, Wolff compellingly illuminates the ideals and legacy of this giant of classical music in a new, refreshing light for everyone, from the amateur to the virtuoso.

Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work

Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work PDF Author: Christoph Wolff
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393651797
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 400

Get Book Here

Book Description
A concentrated study of Johann Sebastian Bach’s creative output and greatest pieces, capturing the essence of his art. Throughout his life, renowned and prolific composer Johann Sebastian Bach articulated his views as a composer in purely musical terms; he was notoriously reluctant to write about his life and work. Instead, he methodically organized certain pieces into carefully designed collections. These benchmark works, all of them without parallel or equivalent, produced a steady stream of transformative ideas that stand as paradigms of Bach’s musical art. In this companion volume to his Pulitzer Prize–finalist biography, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, leading Bach scholar Christoph Wolff takes his cue from his famous subject. Wolff delves deeply into the composer’s own rich selection of collected music, cutting across conventional boundaries of era, genre, and instrument. Emerging from a complex and massive oeuvre, Bach’s Musical Universe is a focused discussion of a meaningful selection of compositions—from the famous Well-Tempered Clavier, violin and cello solos, and Brandenburg Concertos to the St. Matthew Passion, Art of Fugue, and B-minor Mass. Unlike any study undertaken before, this book details Bach’s creative process across the various instrumental and vocal genres. This array of compositions illustrates the depth and variety at the essence of the composer’s musical art, as well as his unique approach to composition as a process of imaginative research into the innate potential of his chosen material. Tracing Bach’s evolution as a composer, Wolff compellingly illuminates the ideals and legacy of this giant of classical music in a new, refreshing light for everyone, from the amateur to the virtuoso.

Becoming Bach

Becoming Bach PDF Author: Thomas Leonard
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1626722862
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 45

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Book Description
Highlights the life and achievements of the eighteenth-century German composer and musician, and examines the development of his most important compositions.

Bach's Choral Music

Bach's Choral Music PDF Author: Gordon Jones
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 9781574671803
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Johann Sebastian Bach produced a remarkable body of works for chorus. He wrote hundreds of cantatas and many other pieces for choir, including motets, oratorios, passions, and liturgical works in Latin. One of these, the celebrated Mass in B Minor, is considered by many to be the crowning glory not merely of Bach's career but of all music ever written.

The Neuroscience of Bach’s Music

The Neuroscience of Bach’s Music PDF Author: Eric Altschuler
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0443135207
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
The Neuroscience of Bach’s Music: Perception, Action, and Cognition Effects on the Brain is a comprehensive study of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music through the lens of neuroscience and examining neuroscience using Bach’s music as a tool. This book synthesizes cognitive neuroscience, music theory, and musicology to provide insights into human cognition and perception. It also explores how a neuroscience perspective can improve listening and performing experiences for Bach’s music. Written by a physician-neuroscientist recognized for scholarly articles on Bach’s music, this book uses specific examples to explore neuroscience across Bach’s compositions. The book is structured to discuss the brain’s action, perception, and cognition as connected to specific Bach concertos, tones, notes, and performances. Two guest contributors provide insight into exact mathematical, or topologic, and music theoretic aspects of Bach’s music with implications for cognitive neuroscience. The Neuroscience of Bach’s Music: Perception, Action, and Cognition Effects on the Brain is a vital source for neuroscientists, especially those studying the cognitive effects of music, as well as musicians and students alike. Links specific features and unique characteristics of Bach’s music to perceptual and cognitive neuroscience processes Requires only an interest in music or basic music training Accompanied by a companion website with music examples mentioned in the book

The Music of J. S. Bach

The Music of J. S. Bach PDF Author: David Schulenberg
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803210516
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
This volume contains contributions by nine scholars on two broad themes: the analysis of Johann Sebastian Bach?s orchestral works, especially his concertos, and the interpretation and performance of his music in general. The contributors are a diverse group, active in the fields of performance, organology, music theory, and music history. Several work in more than one of these areas, making them particularly well prepared to write on the interdisciplinary themes of the volume. ø Part 1 includes Alfred Mann?s introduction to Bach?s orchestral music as well as essays by Gregory G. Butler and Jeanne Swack on the Brandenburg Concertos. Part 2 offers ground-breaking articles by John Koster and Mary Oleskiewicz on the harpsichords and flutes of Bach?s day as well as essays by David Schulenberg and William Renwick on keyboard performance practice and the study of fugue in Bach?s circle. Paul Walker explores the relationships between rhetoric and fugue, and John Butt reviews some recent trends in Bach performance.

An Introduction to Bach Studies

An Introduction to Bach Studies PDF Author: Daniel R. Melamed
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190284064
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
This volume is a guide to the resources and materials of Bach scholarship, both for the non specialist wondering where to begin in the enormous literature on J. S. Bach, and for the Bach specialist looking for a convenient and up to date survey of the field. It describes the tools of Bach research and how to use them, and suggests how to get started in Bach research by describing the principal areas of research and citing the essential literature on each piece and topic. The authors emphasize the issues that have engaged Bach scholars for generations, focusing on particularly important writings; on recent literature; on overviews, collections of essays and handbooks; and on writings in English. Subjects covered include bibliographic tools of Bach research and sources of literature; Bach's family; Bach biographies; places Bach lived and worked; Bach's teaching; the liturgy; Bach source studies and the transmission of his music; repertory and editions; genres and individual vocal and instrumental works; performance practice; the reception and analysis of Bach's music; and many others. The book also offers explanations of important and potentially confusing topics in Bach research, such as the organization of the annual cantata cycles, pitch standards, the history of the Berlin libraries, the structure of the critical commentary volumes in the Neue Bach Ausgabe, and so on. This book opens up the rich world of Bach scholarship to students, teachers, performers, and listeners.

The Music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

The Music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach PDF Author: David Schulenberg
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1580464815
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
Of the four sons of J.S. Bach who became composers, Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-88) was the most prolific, the most original, and the most influential both during and after his lifetime. This first full-length English-language study critically surveys his output, examining not only the famous keyboard sonatas and concertos but also the songs, chamber music, and sacred works, many of which resurfaced in 1999 and have not previously been evaluated. The bookalso outlines the composer's career from his student days at Leipzig and Frankfurt (Oder) to his nearly three decades as court musician to Prussian King Frederick "the Great" and his last twenty years as cantor at Hamburg. Focusing on the composer's choices within his social and historical context, the book shows how C.P.E. Bach deliberately avoided his father's style while adopting the manner of his Berlin colleagues, derived from Italian opera. Anew perspective on the composer emerges from the demonstration that C.P.E. Bach, best known for his virtuoso keyboard works, refashioned himself as a writer of vocal music and popular chamber compositions in response to changingcultural and aesthetic trends. Supplementary texts and musical examples are included on a companion website. David Schulenberg is professor of music at Wagner College and teaches historical performance at the JuilliardSchool. He is the author of The Music of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (University of Rochester Press, 2010).

J. S. Bach, Volume One

J. S. Bach, Volume One PDF Author: Albert Schweitzer
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 9780486216317
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
Volume 1 of 2-volume set. This stimulating narrative traces Bach's life; discusses contemporary artistic and philosophical movements; assesses the work of his predecessors Schutz, Scheidt, Buxtehude, etc., analyzes Bach's own work; and passes on brilliant recommendations for performance — tempo, phrasing, accentuation, dynamics, etc. Translated by Ernest Newman.

Bach's Orchestra

Bach's Orchestra PDF Author: Charles Sanford Terry
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780193152090
Category : Musical instruments
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description


Dance and the Music of J. S. Bach

Dance and the Music of J. S. Bach PDF Author: Meredith Little
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253013720
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
A unique study of dance forms and rhythms in the Baroque composer’s repertoire. Stylized dance music and music based on dance rhythms pervade Bach’s compositions. Although the music of this very special genre has long been a part of every serious musician’s repertoire, little has been written about it. The original edition of this book addressed works that bore the names of dances—a considerable corpus. In this expanded version of their practical and insightful study, Meredith Little and Natalie Jenne apply the same principles to the study of a great number of Bach’s works that use identifiable dance rhythms but do not bear dance-specific titles. Part I describes French dance practices in the cities and courts most familiar to Bach. The terminology and analytical tools necessary for discussing dance music of Bach’s time are laid out. Part II presents the dance forms that Bach used, annotating all of his named dances. Little and Jenne draw on choreographies, harmony, theorists’ writings, and the music of many seventeenth- and eighteenth-century composers in order to arrive at a model for each dance type. Additionally, in Appendix A all of Bach’s named dances are listed in convenient tabular form; included are the BWV number for each piece, the date of composition, the larger work in which it appears, the instrumentation, and the meter. Appendix B supplies the same data for pieces recognizable as dance types but not named as such. More than ever, this book will stimulate both the musical scholar and the performer with a new perspective at the rhythmic workings of Bach’s remarkable repertoire of dance-based music.