Although we are acquainted with the music of J. S. Bach through countless performances and recordings, the composer himself continues to come across as the somewhat enigmatic figure depicted in a single, familiar portrait. Published in 2000 to mark the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, author and leading Bach scholar Christoph Wolff presents a new picture that brings to life this towering figure of the Baroque era. Now available in paperback, this engaging biography portrays Bach as the living, breathing-and sometimes imperfect-human being that he was, while bringing to bear all the advances gained in 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 a 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 in Bach biography.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Biographies & Memoirs

Wolff, Christoph

Arts & Literature

Oxford University Press

The Organs of J.S. Bach: A Handbook

The Organs of J. S. Bach is a comprehensive and fascinating guide to the organs encountered by Bach throughout Germany in his roles as organist, concert artist, examiner, teacher, and visitor. Newly revised and updated, the book's entries are listed alphabetically by geographical location, from Arnstadt to Zschortau, providing an easy-to-reference overview. Includes detailed organ-specific information:high-quality color photographseach instrument's history, its connection to Bach, and its disposition as Bach would have known itarchitectural histories of the churches housing the instrumentsidentification of church organists Lynn Edwards Butler's graceful translation of Christoph Wolff and Markus Zepf's volume incorporates new research and many corrections and updates to the original German edition. Bibliographical references are updated to include English-language sources, and the translation includes an expanded essay by Christoph Wolff on Bach as organist, organ composer, and organ expert. The volume includes maps, a timeline of organ-related events, transcriptions of Bach's organ reports, a guide to examining organs attributed to Saxony's most famous organ builder Gottfried Silbermann, and biographical information on organ builders. Publication of this volume is supported by the American Bach Society.

Arts & Photography

Zepf, Markus

Music

University of Illinois Press

The Organs of J. S. Bach is a comprehensive and fascinating guide to the organs encountered by Bach throughout Germany in his roles as organist, concert artist, examiner, teacher, and visitor. Newly revised and updated, the book's entries are listed alphabetically by geographical location, from Arnstadt to Zschortau, providing an easy-to-reference overview. Includes detailed organ-specific information: high-quality color photographseach instrument's history, its connection to Bach, and its disposition as Bach would have known it architectural histories of the churches housing the instrumentsidentification of church organists Lynn Edwards Butler's graceful translation of Christoph Wolff and Markus Zepf's volume incorporates new research and many corrections and updates to the original German edition. Bibliographical references are updated to include English-language sources, and the translation includes an expanded essay by Christoph Wolff on Bach as organist, organ composer, and organ expert. The volume includes maps, a timeline of organ-related events, transcriptions of Bach's organ reports, a guide to examining organs attributed to Saxony's most famous organ builder Gottfried Silbermann, and biographical information on organ builders. Publication of this volume is supported by the American Bach Society.

This composite volume centered on the life of Johann Sebastian Bach examines the work of all the members of the Bach family. Linked by a family tree which clarifies the genealogy of this complex family, each of the major figures is covered in a separate chapter with a review of the composer's life and works, complemented by a thorough work-list, bibliography, and index. The work-lists of J. S., C. P. E., and J. C. Bach have been considerably revised and updated in light of research conducted since the publication of The New Grove. In an introductory chapter Christoph Wolff provides a full list of family members, including biographical details, and discusses the family's history.

The New Grove Bach Family (New Grove Composer Biography)

Papermac

The New Grove Bach family

Macmillan

Published on the 250th anniversary of the composer's death, a landmark biography by a noted Bach scholar, provides a dramatic new study of the life and music of this key composer and musician of the Baroque era, exploring the intimate links between Bach's life and music and his innovations in musical composition, performance, and education.

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician

W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.

ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award winner A fresh look at the life of Mozart during his imperial years by one of the world's leading Mozart scholars. "I now stand at the gateway to my fortune," Mozart wrote in a letter of 1790. He had entered into the service of Emperor Joseph II of Austria two years earlier as Imperial-Royal Chamber Composer―a salaried appointment with a distinguished title and few obligations. His extraordinary subsequent output, beginning with the three final great symphonies from the summer of 1788, invites a reassessment of this entire period of his life. Readers will gain a new appreciation and understanding of the composer's works from that time without the usual emphasis on his imminent death. The author discusses the major biographical and musical implications of the royal appointment and explores Mozart's "imperial style" on the basis of his major compositions―keyboard,chamber, orchestral, operatic, and sacred―and focuses on the large, unfamiliar works he left incomplete. This new perspective points to an energetic, fresh beginning for the composer and a promising creative and financial future. 8 pages of illustrations

Mozart at the Gateway to His Fortune: Serving the Emperor, 1788–1791

W.W.Norton&Company

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, Bach’s Musical Universe 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. 85 illustrations

Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work

This composite volume centered on the life of Johann Sebastian Bach examines the work of all the members of the Bach family. Linked by a family tree which clarifies the genealogy of this complex family, each of the major figures is covered in a separate chapter with a review of the composer's life and works, complemented by a thorough work-list, bibliography, and index. The work-lists of J. S., C. P. E., and J. C. Bach have been considerably revised and updated in light of research conducted since the publication of The New Grove. In an introductory chapter Christoph Wolff provides a full list of family members, including biographical details, and discusses the family's history.

The New Grove Bach Family (The New Grove Series)

Jones, Richard

Derr, Ellwood S.

Emery, Walter

Helm, Eugene

Warburton, Ernest

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. 42 black and white illustrations

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician (Norton Paperback)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wolff, Christoph. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Wolff, Christoph

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Wolff, Christoph. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Johann Sebastian Bach

The Organs of J.S. Bach: A Handbook

The Organs of J.S. Bach: A Handbook

The New Grove Bach Family (New Grove Composer Biography)

The New Grove Bach family

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician

Mozart at the Gateway to His Fortune: Serving the Emperor, 1788–1791

Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work

The New Grove Bach Family (The New Grove Series)

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician (Norton Paperback)