Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician

Front Cover
W. W. Norton & Company, 2000 - Biography & Autobiography - 599 pages
Finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in Biography, this landmark book was revised in 2013 to include new knowledge discovered after its initial publication.

Although we have heard the music of J. S. Bach in countless performances and recordings, the composer himself still comes across only as an enigmatic figure in a single familiar portrait. As we mark the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, author Christoph Wolff presents a new picture that brings to life this towering figure of the Baroque era. This engaging new biography portrays Bach as the living, breathing, and sometimes imperfect human being that he was, while bringing to bear all the advances of the last half-century of Bach scholarship. Wolff demonstrates the intimate connection between the composer's life and his music, showing how Bach's superb inventiveness pervaded his career as musician, composer, performer, scholar, and teacher. And throughout, we see Bach in the broader context of his time: its institutions, traditions, and influences. With this highly readable book, Wolff sets a new standard for Bach biography.

 

Contents

Bach and the Notion of Musical Science
1
Springs of Musical Talent and Lifelong Influences
13
Laying the Foundations
33
Bypassing a Musical Apprenticeship
53
Building a Reputation
77
Exploring Every Possible Artistry
117
Expanding Musical Horizons
147
Pursuing the Musical Contest for Superiority
187
Family and Home 391 Balancing Official Duties
409
Contemplating Past Present and Future
417
Bach and the Idea of Musical Perfection
465
Notes
473
Music Examples
512
Appendixes
525
Bibliography
545
Genre Index of Bach s Works
555

Redefining a Venerable Office
237
Musician and Scholar
305
Traversing Conventional Boundaries
341
A Singing Bird and Carnations for the Lady of the House
391

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About the author (2000)

Christoph Wolff is Adams University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, where he taught from 1976 to 2012. A former director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, Germany, he is the author of numerous works of music history including Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography, and Mozart at the Gateway to His Fortune: Serving the Emperor, 1788–1791, winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. Wolff lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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