The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents [Paperback]

Christoph Wolff (Author), Arthur Mendel (Editor), Hans T. David (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999

"Just reading these documents brings this great composer to life in a most exciting and vivid way. I love this book!" —Yo-Yo Ma

Through hundreds of letters, family papers, anecdotes, and records, the Bach Reader established a new approach to biography by offering original documents in impeccable translations. In The New Bach Reader, Christoph Wolff has incorporated numerous facsimiles and added many newly discovered items, reflecting the current state of scholarship about the composer's life and music. The readings in this volume provide an accurate and vivid picture of Bach's world and of his far-reaching influence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Just reading these documents brings this great composer to life in a most exciting and vivid way. I love this book! -- Yo-Yo Ma

About the Author

Christoph Wolff, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, is the Adams University Professor at Harvard University and one of the world’s foremost experts on Bach and Mozart. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Revised & enlarged edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393319563
• ISBN-13: 978-0393319569
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( B ) > Bach, Johann Sebastian

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb introduction to Bach (and very entertaining), November 16, 1999

By 

Deborah Gordon (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents (Paperback)

This is a wonderfully well arranged collection of letters, testimonials, court records and other contemporary documents by and relating to Johann Sebastian Bach. The editors have selected items which paint a picture of a man who knew his own worth, (he argues for, and gets, a higher salary than his predecessors in most of his jobs)didn't tolerate fools gladly, and who had exactly the same problems church musicians today face.

Incidentally, it made me laugh frequently. Some of his testimonials for former students show him damning with faint praise. His argument over who should appoint school prefects leaves you wondering who was lying. And his begging letters to his employers are masterpieces of not-very-obsequious charm.

A great book to dip in and out of, and a resource every musician should own.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have and must read - contemporary documents and the view of Bach through the centuries, January 25, 2006

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents (Paperback)

This book is essential for anyone wanting to understand the life and work of J. S. Bach. It provides wonderful insights about the man through his own documents and writings by those who knew and worked with him. He comes across as an amazingly hard working genius with a quick temper and absolute focus.

The book is organized according to the various aspects of Bach's life. We get a portrait of him "in outline" using various anecdotes. Then we get a section about his life from his own writings. The next section contains biographical and genealogical information about Bach and his family. The sections on Bach as viewed by his contemporaries, in Forkel's biography, in the second half of the 18th century, and in the Romantic era are all quite interesting. Given how much Bach has meant to the world (more than in life!), it is not surprising that we cannot understand him without understanding his changing reputation over the past centuries.

This new edition has more than two hundred pages of additional information than the earlier editions and makes the book that much richer an experience.

I repeat, this is a must have and a must read for any lover of music. Why be limited to what other people tell you about this composer when you can find out for yourself from contemporary documents?

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive collection, November 18, 2003

By 

Gontroppo "Music and Theology Lover" (Bathurst, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents (Paperback)

A wonderful collection of letters by and articles about Bach, both from his own era and afterwards.

Some of his letters have even been set to music! Amazon also has available Peter Schickele's [a k a PDQ Bach] "1712 Overture and other Musical Assaults" which includes his parody on Copland's Lincoln Portrait, in which, instead of reciting The Gettysburg Address, he reads 2 of Bach's many letters complaining about his lack of money.

These are among the best known of Bach's letters, and are a fairly good indication of the general tone of many of his letters.

In one letter he complains to a relative that the cask of wine he had sent was half empty by the time it arrived, and that he had had to pay so many taxes as it passed through various districts of Germany that receiving it was rather expensive!

He concludes by saying something like "Please don't send me any more gifts ... I can't afford it!"

In the second letter, he writes warmly of his very musical family, but also whinges about his pay being less than he expected. He says that he had been promised a certain amount of money per funeral, but unfortunately the winter was so mild very few people died!

Highly recommended for lovers of Bach.