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...
Although we have heard the music of J. S. Bach in countless performances and recordings, the composer himself still comes across only as an enigmat...
Mozart's unfinished Requiem has long been shrouded in mystery. Mozart undertook the commission for an Austrian nobleman, little knowing that he was to write a requiem for himself. Inevitably, the secrecy surrounding the anonymous commission, the circumstances of Mozart's death, the unfinished state of the work, and its completion under the direction of Mozart's widow, Constanze, have precipitated two centuries of romantic speculation and scholarly controversy. Christoph Wolff provides a critical introduction to the Requiem in its many facets. Part I of his study focuses on the tangled...
Mozart's unfinished Requiem has long been shrouded in mystery. Mozart undertook the commission for an Austrian nobleman, little knowing that he was to...
The forced migration of artists and scholars from Nazi Germany is a compelling and often wrenching story. The story is twofold, of impoverishment for the countries the musicians left behind and enrichment for the United States. The latter is the focus of this eminent collection, which approaches the subject from diverse perspectives, including documentary-style newspaper accounts and an exploration of Walt Whitman's poetry in the work of Paul Hindemith and Kurt Weill. The flood of musical migration from Germany and Austria from 1933 to 1944 had a lasting impact. Hundreds of musicians and...
The forced migration of artists and scholars from Nazi Germany is a compelling and often wrenching story. The story is twofold, of impoverishment for ...
Johann Sebastian Bach holds a singular position in the history of music. A uniquely gifted musician, he combined outstanding performing virtuosity with supreme creative powers and remarkable intellectual discipline. More than two centuries after his lifetime, Bach's work continues to set musical standards.
The noted Bach scholar Christoph Wolff offers in this book new perspectives on the composer's life and remarkable career. Uncovering important historical evidence, the author demonstrates significant influences on Bach's artistic...
Step into the classroom with Christoph Wolff
Johann Sebastian Bach holds a singular position in the history of music. A uniquely gifted music...
Schoenberg's quartets and trio, composed over a nearly forty-year period, occupy a central position among twentieth-century chamber music. This volume, based on papers presented at a conference in honour of David Lewin, collects a wide range of approaches to Schoenberg's pieces. The first part of the book provides a historical context to these works, examining Viennese quartet culture and traditions, Webern's reception of Schoenberg's Second Quartet, Schoenberg's view of the Beethoven quartets, and the early reception of Schoenberg's First Quartet. The second part examines musical issues of...
Schoenberg's quartets and trio, composed over a nearly forty-year period, occupy a central position among twentieth-century chamber music. This volume...
Such questions concern the role of the cantatas in Bach's compositional development, musical models for the works, and performance practice during the composer's lifetime. In this book, Bach scholars place the works in their historical and biographical context, guiding the reader through their literary, musical, aesthetic and theological features. This volume--the first of three which complement a recording project by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and incorporating the complete Bach cantatas--covers the sacred cantatas he wrote during the first 28 years of his life, before his move to...
Such questions concern the role of the cantatas in Bach's compositional development, musical models for the works, and performance practice during ...
Mozarts letzte Komposition, sein unvollendetes Requiem, gilt als seinSchwanengesangund steht bis heute im Ruf eines geheimnisumwitterten Werkes. Die Legendenbildung setzte bereits unmittelbar nach dem Tod des Komponisten ein und trug wesentlich dazu bei, dass die Ereignisse um die Entstehung des Requiems sowie um Mozarts Krankheit und Tod sich zu einem Bild zusammenfgten, das durch mysterise, inder pseudo-wissenschaftlichen Literatur oftmals geradezu bizarre Zge angereichert wurde. Das Buch von Christoph Wolff bietet ein konzentriertes Resmee von historischen und analytischen Studien. Am...
Mozarts letzte Komposition, sein unvollendetes Requiem, gilt als seinSchwanengesangund steht bis heute im Ruf eines geheimnisumwitterten Werkes. Die L...
"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...
"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, con...
"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...
"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, con...
"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...
"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 year...
