In lucid and engaging style, Stinson explores Bach's 'Great Eighteen' Organ Chorales - among Bach's most celebrated works for organ - from a wide range of historical and analytical perspectives, including the models used by Bach in conceiving the individual pieces, his subsequent compilation of these works into a collection, and his compositional process as preserved by the autograph manuscript. Stinson also considers various issues of performance practice, and provides the first comprehensive examination of the music's reception, its dissemination in manuscript and printed form, and its influence on such composers as Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms.

Johann Sebastian Bach dominates the field of organ music like no other composer dominates any other repertory. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Bach's organ works have long attracted scholarly attention. Still, the subject has by no means been exhausted. The sheer number of Bach's surviving organ compositions will always prevent anyone from having the "last word" on the subjects, either the music's stylistic diversity, or its complexity. In addition, Bach's organ works have exerted a profound and lasting influence on later generations, including many of the greatest composers, performers, conductors, critics, and scholars in the whole history of music. In J. S. Bach at His Royal Instrument, author Russell Stinson delves into various unexplored aspects of these masterpieces. Drawing on previous research and new archival sources, he sheds light on many of the most mysterious aspects of this music and its reception. Beginning with a critique of the literature, Stinson questions recent hypotheses regarding authorship and provenance of several of Bach's most famous pieces. From there he discusses the music itself, revealing compositional procedures that not only illuminate key aspects of the chorales, but those of the composer's contemporaries and predecessors as well. From there, Stinson turns to reception. From Mendelssohn and Schumann to Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, Stinson shows how Bach's music has remained a part of Western culture for nearly three hundred years. J. S. Bach at His Royal Instrument casts new light on these foundational pieces of Western music, and is essential reading for students, scholars and fans of Bach, and "the king of instruments."

In this penetrating study, Russell Stinson explores how four of the greatest composers of the nineteenth century-Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Johannes Brahms-responded to the model of Bach's organ music. The author shows that this quadrumvirate not only borrowed from Bach's organ works in creating their own masterpieces, whether for keyboard, voice, orchestra, or chamber ensemble, but that they also reacted significantly to the music as performers, editors, theorists, and teachers. Furthermore, the book reveals how these four titans influenced one another as "receptors" of this repertory and how their mutual acquaintances-especially Clara Schumann-contributed as well. As the first comprehensive discussion of this topic ever attempted, Stinson's book represents a major step forward in the literature on the so-called Bach revival. He considers biographical as well as musical evidence to arrive at a host of new and sometimes startling conclusions. Filled with fascinating anecdotes, the study also includes detailed observations on how these composers annotated their personal copies of Bach's organ works. Stinson's book is entirely up-to-date and offers much material previously unavailable in English. It is meticulously annotated and indexed, and it features numerous musical examples and facsimile plates as well as an exhaustive bibliography. Included in an appendix is Brahms's hitherto unpublished study score of the Fantasy in G Major, BWV 572. Engagingly written, this study should be read by anyone interested in the music of Bach or the music of the nineteenth century.

In this penetrating study, Russell Stinson explores how four of the greatest composers of the nineteenth century--Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Johannes Brahms--responded to the model of Bach's organ music. The author shows that this quadrumvirate not only borrowed from Bach's organ works in creating their own masterpieces, whether for keyboard, voice, orchestra, or chamber ensemble, but that they also reacted significantly to the music as performers, editors, theorists, and teachers. Furthermore, the book reveals how these four titans influenced one another as "receptors" of this repertory and how their mutual acquaintances--especially Clara Schumann--contributed as well.
As the first comprehensive discussion of this topic ever attempted, Stinson's book represents a major step forward in the literature on the so-called Bach revival. He considers biographical as well as musical evidence to arrive at a host of new and sometimes startling conclusions. Filled with fascinating anecdotes, the study also includes detailed observations on how these composers annotated their personal copies of Bach's organ works.
Stinson's book is entirely up-to-date and offers much material previously unavailable in English. It is meticulously annotated and indexed, and it features numerous musical examples and facsimile plates as well as an exhaustive bibliography. Included in an appendix is Brahms's hitherto unpublished study score of the Fantasy in G Major, BWV 572. Engagingly written, this study should be read by anyone at all interested in the music of Bach or the music of the nineteenth century.

Johann Sebastian Bach's legacy is undeniably one of the richest in the history of music, with a vast influence on posterity that has only grown since his rediscovery in the early nineteenth century. In this latest addition to his long list of Bach studies, renowned Bach scholar Russell Stinson examines how four of the greatest composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, and Edward Elgar - engaged with Bach's legacy, not only as composers per se, but also as performers, conductors, scholars, critics, and all-around musical ambassadors. Detailed analyses of both musical and epistolary sources shed light on how these later masters heard and received Bach's music within their musical circles, while colorful anecdotes about their Bach reception help humanize them, reconstructing the intimate social circumstances in which they performed and discussed Bach's music. Stinson focuses on Mendelssohn's and Schumann's reception of Bach's organ works, Schumann's encounter with the St. Matthew and St. John Passions, Wagner's musings on the Well-Tempered Clavier, and Elgar's (resoundingly negative) thoughts on Bach as a vocal composer. Engagingly written, copiously annotated, and thoroughly up to date, Bach's Legacy traces the historical afterlife of Bach's music and offers fascinating insights into how these later masters defined it for their audiences and beyond.

The music of J. S. Bach continues to be revered and celebrated centuries after his death. Its timelessness can be attributed to masterful musical engineering combined with profound expressivity. In other words, Bach's unique art may represent the pinnacle of contrapuntal technique, but it is just as amazing for its depth of emotion. Bach's compositions remain an indispensable part of the classical-music canon today. The Afterlife of Bach's Organ Works explores the critical impact made on posterity by Bach's organ music. It concerns a diverse group of musicians and non-musicians alike—some famous, some forgotten—who in one way or another became champions of these compositions. These individuals performed the music; edited it for publication; promoted it by means of books, articles, and reviews; transcribed it for other media; taught it to their pupils; shared it with their family and friends; and incorporated it into the soundtracks of their motion pictures. They ensured its "afterlife." In five chapters, organist and Bach expert Russell Stinson traces the historical afterlife of Bach's organ music from the early nineteenth century—the era of the so-called Bach revival—to the present day. Engagingly written and containing a wealth of information previously unavailable in English, the book is a history of performance practice, an aesthetic history of musical taste, and a social history. Each chapter tells the story of how and why Bach's organ works have stood the test of time.

On the 250th anniversary of the composer's death, this volume offers an in-depth look at the "Great Eighteen" organ chorales, among the most celebrated works for organ, and a milestone in the history of the chorale. Addressed to organists, scholars, and general listeners alike, this lucid and engaging book examines the music from a wide spectrum of historical and analytical perspectives.

Stinson examines the models used by Bach in conceiving the original pieces, his subsequent compilation of these works into a collection, and his compositional process as preserved by the autograph manuscript. Himself an accomplished organist, Stinson also considers various issues of performance practice and concludes with a discussion of the music's reception--its dissemination in manuscript and printed form, its performance history, and its influence on later composers. Completely up-to-date and presenting a wealth of new material, much of it translated into English for the first time, this study will open up fresh perspectives on some of the composer's greatest creations.

This is the first book-length study of the Orgelbüchlein, the masterly collection of organ chorales by J. S. Bach. This 'Little Organ Book' is regarded by Bach scholars as one of the composer's most important achievements and by organ scholars as a milestone in the development of the chorale. Russell Stinson, himself an organist, examines the collection from a range of historical and analytical perspectives in a way that will resonate with not only organists and scholars but the average concert-goer or CD-buyer.

In this wide-ranging set of original essays, musicologist and organist Russell Stinson investigates Johann Sebastian Bach's compositions for the organ, opening up a wealth of perspectives on the stylistic orientation and historical context of these timeless masterpieces. With a sweeping hand, Stinson sheds light on the entire corpus of Bach's organ chorales, and considers the reception of particular pieces not only by various luminaries in the classical music world, but also those within such disparate contexts as film, literature, politics, and rock music. Stinson's investigations include a revealing focus on a previously unpublished fugue by Bach pupil J. G. Schubler, unexplored techniques found in over twenty of Bach's chorale preludes, and the diverse ways in which Bach's organ works have been received from the composer's own lifetime to the present day. Individual essays are also devoted to Felix Mendelssohn as a performer; to Robert Schumann as an editor and critic; to Cesar Franck as a performer, pedagogue, and composer; and to Edward Elgar as a performer, critic, and transcriber. Rich in archival data and filled with fascinating anecdotes, J. S. Bach at His Royal Instrument is entirely up-to-date, meticulously annotated and indexed, and eminently readable. This book is essential reading for anyone at all interested in Bach and "the king of instruments."