Published in its first edition in 1983, Boyd's treatment of this canonical composer is essential reading for students, scholars, and everyone interested in Baroque music. In this third edition, biographical chapters alternate with commentary on the works, to demonstrate how the circumstances of Bach's life helped to shape the music he wrote at various periods. We follow Bach as he travels from Arnstadt and Muhlhausen to Weimar, Cothen, and finally Leipzig, these journeys alternating with insightful discussions of the great composer's organ and orchestral compositions. As well as presenting a rounded picture of Bach, his music, and his posthumous reputation and influence, Malcolm Boyd considers the sometimes controversial topics of "parody" and arrangement, number symbolism, and the style and meaning of Bach's late works. Recent theories on the constitution of Bach's performing forces at Leipzig are also present. The text and the appendixes (which include a chronology, personalia, bibliography, and a complete catalogue of Bach's works) were thoroughly revised in this edition to take account of more recent research undertaken by Bach scholars, including the gold mine of new information uncovered in the former USSR.

Breitkopf & Härtel edition. All 23 string quartets plus alternate slow movement to K156. Study score.

This ambitious study offers a panoramic survey of musical thought in the eighteenth century and, at the same time, a close analysis of the important theoretical topics of the period. The result is the most comprehensive account ever given of the theory behind the music of late Baroque and early Classical composers from Bach to Beethoven. While giving preeminent theorists their due, Joel Lester also examines the works of over one hundred eighteenth- and seventeenth-century writers to show how prominent theories were received and applied in actual teaching situations. Beginning with the influence of Zarlino and seventeenth-century theorists, Lester goes on to focus on central traditions emerging from definitive works in the early eighteenth century: species counterpoint in the writings of Fux; thoroughbass as presented by Niedt and Heinichen; Rameau's harmonic theories and Mattheson's views on melodic structure. The author traces the development and interactions of these traditions over the remainder of the century, through the writings of Albrechtsberger, C. P. E. Bach, Kirnberger, Koch, Marpurg, Martini, Nichelmann, Riepel, and many others. This historical overview is leavened throughout with accounts of individual composers grappling with theoretical issues - Haydn's careful study of Fux's treatise, Mozart's instructions on harmony to his composition students, Beethoven's own student exercises. The links between various theoretical traditions, the pervasive influence of Rameau's harmonic thinking, and the harmonic theories of Koch are just some of the numerous topics given their first full treatment here. Many of the theorists Lester cites are either unknown or often misunderstoodtoday. By bringing their contributions to light and placing them within the context of theoretical tradition, Lester offers a fresh perspective, one that will inform and enhance any future study of this magnificent era in Western music.

An illuminating discussion of the musical, literary, aesthetic, and theological aspects of Bach's early cantatas.

The cantatas of J. S. Bach are among the best known and most frequently performed musical works of the Baroque period. But Bach's world is no longer our world, so when we hear and perform the cantatas, questions arise that are difficult to answer because we are experiencing the works outside their historical context. Such questions concern the role of the cantatas in Bach's compositional development, musical models for the works, and performance practice during the composer's lifetime.

In The World of the Bach Cantatas, leading Bach scholars place the works in their historical and biographical context, guiding us through their literary, musical, aesthetic, and theological features. The book covers the sacred cantatas Bach wrote during the first twenty-eight years of his life, before his move to Leipzig in 1723.

Contributing authors include Andreas Glöckner, Ulrich Leisinger, Daniel R. Melamed, Claus Oefner, Martin Petzoldt, Hans-Joachim Schulze, George B. Stauffer, and Peter Wollny.

Designed as an accompaniment to Ton Koopman's complete set of cantatas now being recorded on the Erato label.