The Letters of C. P. E. Bach [Hardcover]

C. P. E. Bach (Author), Stephen L. Clark (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 1997

This is a complete edition of the correspondence of the most famous of J.S. Bach's sons. Very few of these letters have appeared previously in English translation. They provide a fascinating picture of an eighteenth-century composer hard at work publishing his own music, debating aesthetic matters, and championing the music and teachings of his father. The readable translation, detailed index, extensive cross referencing, and glossary of names make this an accessible and useful volume.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...a fascinating insight into the precarious business of musical publication in late eighteenth-century Germany. - Joachim Whaley. British Journal for 18th C Studies. Vol 21 1998.

`Stephen Clark's new English edition not only provides a translation of the letters already available in German (this in itself represents a large-scale achievement) but also adds items, and corrects previously published information with regard to numerous details in the texts and commentary ... The book is conscientiously edited, attractively printed, and laid out in an agreeably spacious manner ... The translation as a whole has been achieved with sensitivity to both the structure and the content of the original texts ... the translated text arouses admiration at the skill deployed in preserving component parts of sentences and their interrelationship, while re-arranging them to create maximum flow in the English version.' Susan Wollenberg, Music and Letters, Vol 80 no 3

`Clark's task ... has been an important one, and it has been skilfully accomplished ... exemplary apparatus combines to give an impression of comprehensive and dedicated scholarship, and this is borne out by the contents. The book is conscientiously edited, attractively printed, and laid out in an agreeably spacious manner ... the translation as a whole has been achieved with sensitivity to both the structure and the content of the original texts ... the translated text arouses admiration at the skill deployed in preserving component parts of sentences and their interrelationship, while rearranging them to create maximum flow in the English version.' Susan Wollenberg, Music and Letters, Vol 80, no 3, 1999

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 9, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198162383
• ISBN-13: 978-0198162384
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,727,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly edition of an important composer's letters, September 10, 2000

By 

Molly the Cat "Meow" (the USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Letters of C. P. E. Bach (Hardcover)

This thoroughly-annotated volume is a necessary corollary to any biographical study done on C.P.E. Bach. It is, however, not by any means as complete a picture as one would like; only four of the 338 numbered letters in Prof. Clark's volume date from before 1760, when the composer was 46 years old; some of the known letters survive only in fragments quoted in old auction catalogues, the originals subsequently being lost; and many of the letters whose full texts survive are to the publisher Breitkopf, with whom C.P.E. sustained a working relationship spanning more than two decades.

Thus a great deal of the book involves Emanuel's communicating his wishes to Breitkopf (Breitkopf's answers are occasionally summarized in Prof. Clark's extensive footnotes) regarding publications which Breitkopf would print on the composer's behalf and then help him distribute. Emanuel's occasional bursts of irritation at the publisher (e.g., "You, shameful compatriot! How can you bring your heart to let me roast in uncertainty over a slow fire, wondering whether you have received my manuscript sent right after the holidays?" [Letter 238, 4 Feb. 1784]) are amusing, and seeing how a composer of the time planned, proof-corrected, and distributed an 18th century publication is intriguing. There are also a couple of letters to J.N. Forkel, the early biographer of J.S. Bach, where Emanuel shares information regarding his celebrated father.

Those who hope for a detailed portrait of Emanuel will likely be less than satisfied due to the fact that so much of the correspondence has undoubtedly been lost. But Prof. Clark's book is everything that could be wished for in a detailed edition in English of this correspondence. My awarding this book less than five stars is by no means to be understood as a reflection on Clark's work, which is uniformly excellent, but to the high price relative to the size of the book--which is just over three hundred pages including bibliography and index--and the specialized nature of the book. General readers should investigate the *New Grove Bach Family* for an overview of Emanuel before tackling this kind of scholarly work.