The Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach

The Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach by Schulenberg, David. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780028732756.

Johann Sebastian Bachs keyboard works form one of the most significant repertories of Western music. Continuously performed since their creation in the eighteenth century, they are an integral part of the training of every serious musician. Writing for performers, listeners, and scholars, David Schulenberg provides a unique and comprehensive guide to Bachs entire output of music originally played on harpsichord and other keyboard instruments. Every aspect of the music is treated in a balanced discussion that integrates recent discoveries and ongoing debates with illuminating insights into the history and interpretation of each work. The Keyboard Music of J. S. Bach is divided into 18 chapters. Chapter 1 is a concise introduction to the entire repertory, its sources, catalogues, and editions. Chapter 2 provides an overview of Bach performance practice, including the choice of keyboard instrument and questions of articulation, rhythm, and ornamentation. Chapter 3 traces Bachs stylistic development in the keyboard works. The remaining 15 chapters supply expert commentary on more than 200 individual keyboard works, from the early suites, fugues, and toccatas, the concerto transcriptions, and the Clavier-Buchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, to such famous later works as the Well-Tempered Clavier, the English and French Suites, the partitas, the Goldberg Variations, the Musical Offering, and the Art of Fugue. Over 100 musical examples illustrate intriguing early versions of familiar works, solutions to interpretive and analytical problems, and completions for works left in fragmentary form. The book also includes two appendixes, notes, and an extensive bibliography.