TheBach family had already produced several composers when Johann Sebastian was born as the last child of a city musician,Johann Ambrosius, inEisenach. After being orphaned at age 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother,Johann Christoph, then continued his musical education inLüneburg. In 1703 he returned toThuringia, working as a musician forProtestant churches inArnstadt andMühlhausen. Around that time he also visited for longer periods the courts inWeimar, where he expanded hisorgan repertory, and thereformed court atKöthen, where he was mostly engaged withchamber music. By 1723 he was hired asThomaskantor (cantor with related duties atSt Thomas School) inLeipzig. There he composed music for the principalLutheran churches of the city andLeipzig University's student ensemble,Collegium Musicum. In 1726 he beganpublishing his organ and other keyboard music. In Leipzig, as had happened during some of his earlier positions, he had difficult relations with his employer. This situation was somewhat remedied when his sovereign,Augustus III of Poland, granted him the title of court composer of the Elector of Saxony in 1736. In the last decades of his life, Bach reworked and extended many of his earlier compositions. He died due to complications following eye surgery in 1750 at the age of 65. Four of his twenty children,Wilhelm Friedemann,Carl Philipp Emanuel,Johann Christoph Friedrich, andJohann Christian, became composers.
Several decades after the end of his life, in the 18th century, Bach was still primarily known as anorganist. By 2013, more than 150 recordings had been made of hisThe Well-Tempered Clavier. Severalbiographies of Bach were published in the 19th century, and by the end of that century all of his known music had been printed.[5] Dissemination of Bach scholarship continued through periodicals (and later also websites) devoted to him, other publications such as theBach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV, a numbered catalogue of his works), and new critical editions of his compositions. His music was further popularised by amultitude of arrangements, including the "Air on the G String" and "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", and recordings, among them three different box sets of performances of his completeoeuvre marking the 250th anniversary of his death.
Johann Sebastian Bach was born inEisenach, the capital of theduchy of Saxe-Eisenach, in present-day Germany, on 21 March 1685O.S.[7][8][n 2] He was the eighth and youngest child ofJohann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the town musicians, andMaria Elisabethnée Lämmerhirt, daughter of a town councillor.[10][11][12] TheBach family, traditionally traced to the patriarchVitus "Veit" Bach (d. 1619), produced three to four generations of musicians in theThuringia region, whose insular cultural climate fostered conservative musicianship, with external influences arriving mainly via the courts.[13] Nothing is definitively known about Bach's early years before 1693; hismusical education in particular is highly conjectural.[10] His family, particularly the uncles, were all professional musicians who worked as church organists, court chamber musicians, and composers.[14] Bach's father presumably taught him theviolin, Ambrosius' own primary instrument, along with basicmusic theory principles.[15][16] One uncle,Johann Christoph Bach (1645–1693) may have introduced him to theorgan, though this is debated since the uncle may not have been close to the immediate family.[15][16]
By 3 April 1700 Bach and his school friend Georg Erdmann—who was two years older—began studies atSt Michael's School inLüneburg, two weeks' travel north of Ohrdruf.[25][26] Their journey was probably undertaken mostly on foot.[26] He sang in the choir and had opportunities to pursue his interest in instrumental music:[27] recently, evidence has come to light that he received organ lessons.[28] He also came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany who had been sent to the nearbyRitter-Academie to prepare for careers in other disciplines.[29]
Marriages and children
Four months after arriving at Mühlhausen in 1707, Bach marriedMaria Barbara Bach, his second cousin.[27] Later that year their first child, Catharina Dorothea, was born, and Maria Barbara's elder, unmarried sister joined them. She remained to help run the household until she died in 1729. Three sons were also born:Wilhelm Friedemann,Carl Philipp Emanuel, andJohann Gottfried Bernhard. All became musicians, and the first two composers. Johann Sebastian and Maria Barbara had seven children. Their twins born in 1713 died within a year, and their last son, Leopold, also died within a year of his birth.[30] On 7 July 1720, while Bach was away inCarlsbad with Prince Leopold, Maria Barbara suddenly died.[31] The next year, he metAnna Magdalena Wilcke, a giftedsoprano 16 years his junior, while she was performing at the court in Köthen; they married on 3 December 1721.[32] Together they had 13 children, six of whom survived into adulthood:Gottfried Heinrich; Elisabeth Juliane Friederica (1726–1781);Johann Christoph Friedrich andJohann Christian, who both became musicians; Johanna Carolina (1737–1781); and Regina Susanna (1742–1809).[33]
Career
Weimar, Arnstadt, and Mühlhausen (1703–1708)
Current version of theWender organ in the Bach Church, Arnstadt.
In January 1703, shortly after graduating from St. Michael's in 1702 and being turned down for the post of organist atSangerhausen,[34] Bach was appointed court musician in the chapel of DukeJohann Ernst III inWeimar.[35] His role there is unclear, but it probably included menial, non-musical duties. During his seven-month tenure at Weimar, his reputation as a keyboardist spread so widely that he was invited to inspect the new organ and give the inaugural recital at the New Church (nowBach Church) inArnstadt, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southwest of Weimar.[36] On 14 August 1703 he became the organist at the New Church,[16] with light duties, a relatively generous salary, and a new organ tuned in a temperament that allowed music written in a wider range of keys to be played.[37]
Despite a musically enthusiastic employer, tension built up between Bach and his employer after several years in the post. For example, Bach upset his employer with a prolonged absence from Arnstadt: after obtaining leave for four weeks, he was absent for around four months in 1705–1706 to take lessons from the organist and composerJohann Adam Reincken and to hear him andDieterich Buxtehude play in the northern city ofLübeck.[38] The visit to Buxtehude and Reincken involved a 450-kilometre (280 mi) journey each way, reportedly on foot.[39][40] Buxtehude probably introduced Bach to his friend Reincken so that he could learn from his compositional technique (especially his mastery offugue), his organ playing and his skills with improvisation. Bach knew Reincken's music very well; he copied Reincken's monumentalAn Wasserflüssen Babylon when he was 15 years old. Bach later wrote several other works on the same theme. When Bach revisited Reincken in 1720 and showed him his improvisatory skills on the organ, Reincken reportedly remarked: "I thought that this art was dead, but I see that it lives in you."[41]
In 1706 Bach applied for a post as organist at theBlasius Church inMühlhausen.[42][43] As part of his application, he had acantata performed atEaster, 24 April 1707, that resembles his laterChrist lag in Todes Banden BMV 4.[44] Bach's application was accepted a month later, and he took up the post in July.[42] The position included higher remuneration, improved conditions, and a better choir. Bach persuaded the church and town government at Mühlhausen to fund an expensive renovation of the organ at the Blasius Church. In 1708 Bach wroteGott ist mein König, a festivecantata for the inauguration of the new council, which was published at the council's expense.[27][45] This was the only extant Bach cantata published in his lifetime.[46]
Bach left Mühlhausen in 1708, returning to Weimar this time as organist and from 1714Konzertmeister (director of music) at the ducal court, where he could work with a large, well-funded contingent of professional musicians.[27] Bach and his wife moved into a house near the ducal palace.[47] Bach's time in Weimar began a sustained period of composing keyboard and orchestral works. He attained the proficiency and confidence to extend the prevailing structures and include influences from abroad. He learned to write dramatic openings and employ the dynamic rhythms and harmonic schemes used by Italians such asVivaldi,Corelli, andTorelli. Bach absorbed these stylistic aspects to a certain extent by transcribing Vivaldi's string and wind concertos for harpsichord and organ. He was particularly attracted to the Italian style, in which one or more solo instruments alternate section-by-section with the full orchestra throughout amovement.[48]
In Weimar Bach continued to play and compose for the organ and perform concert music with the duke's ensemble.[27] He also began to write thepreludes andfugues that were later assembled into the first volume ofThe Well-Tempered Clavier ("clavier" meaning clavichord or harpsichord),[49] which eventually comprised two volumes written over 20 years,[50] each containing 24 pairings of preludes and fugues in everymajor andminor key. In Weimar, Bach also started work on theLittle Organ Book, containing traditionalLutheran chorale tunes set in complex textures. In 1713 Bach was offered a post inHalle when he advised the authorities during a renovation by Christoph Cuntzius of the main organ in the west gallery of theMarket Church of Our Dear Lady.[51][52]
In early 1714 Bach was promoted toKonzertmeister, an honour that entailed performing a church cantata monthly in the castle church.[53] The first three cantatas in the new series Bach composed in Weimar wereHimmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV 182, forPalm Sunday, which coincided with theAnnunciation that year;Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12, forJubilate Sunday; andErschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172, forPentecost.[54] Bach's first Christmas cantata,Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63, premiered in 1714 or 1715.[55][56] In 1717 Bach fell out of favour in Weimar and, according to the court secretary's report, was jailed for almost a month before being unfavourably dismissed: "On November 6, [1717,] the quondam [former] concertmaster and organist Bach was confined to the County Judge's place of detention for too stubbornly forcing the issue of his dismissal and finally on December 2 was freed from arrest with notice of his unfavourable discharge."[57]
DespiteGeorge Frideric Handel being born in the same year and only about 130 kilometres (80 mi) apart, Bach never met his celebrated contemporary. In 1719, Bach made the 35-kilometre (22 mi) journey fromKöthen toHalle with the intention to meet Handel, but Handel had left town.[61][62] In 1730, Bach's oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, travelled to Halle to invite Handel to visit the Bach family in Leipzig, but the visit did not take place.[63]
Leipzig (1723–1750)
Leipzig was "the leading cantorate in Protestant Germany",[64] located in the mercantile city in theElectorate of Saxony. In 1723, Bach was appointedThomaskantor (director of church music) in Leipzig. He was responsible for directing theSt Thomas School and for providing four churches with music, theSt Thomas Church, theSt Nicholas Church, and to a lesser extent, theNew Church andSt Peter's Church.[65] Bach held the position for 27 years, until his death. During that time, he gained further prestige through honorary appointments at the courts of Köthen andWeissenfels, as well as that of the ElectorFrederick Augustus (who was alsoKing of Poland) inDresden.[64] Bach frequently disagreed with his employer, Leipzig's city council, whom he regarded as "penny-pinching".[66]
Johann Kuhnau had been Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1701 until his death on 5 June 1722. Bach had visited Leipzig during Kuhnau's tenure: in 1714 he attended the service at the St. Thomas Church on the first Sunday of Advent,[67] and in 1717 he had tested the organ of theSt. Paul's Church.[68] In 1716 Bach and Kuhnau met on the occasion of the testing and inauguration of an organ in Halle.[52] The position was offered to Bach only after it had been offered toGeorg Philipp Telemann and thenChristoph Graupner—both of whom chose to stay where they were, Telemann inHamburg and Graupner inDarmstadt—after using the Leipzig offer to negotiate better terms of employment.[69][70] Bach was required to instruct theThomasschule students in singing and provide music for Leipzig's main churches. He was also assigned to teach Latin, but was allowed to employ four "prefects" (deputies) to do this instead. The prefects also aided with musical instruction.[71] A cantata was required for the church services on each Sunday and additional church holidays during theliturgical year.[72]
Cantata cycle years (1723–1729)
Bach usually led performances of hiscantatas, most composed within three years of his relocation to Leipzig. He assumed the office of Thomaskantor on 30 May 1723, presenting the first new cantata,Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75, in the St. Nicholas Church on the first Sunday afterTrinity.[73] Bach collected his cantatas in annual cycles, with the first starting in 1723. Five are mentioned in obituaries, and three are extant.[54] Of the more than 300 cantatas he composed in Leipzig, over 100 have been lost.[74] Most of these works expound on the Gospel readings prescribed for every Sunday and feast day in the Lutheran year. Bach started a second annual cycle on the first Sunday after the Trinity of 1724 and composed onlychorale cantatas, each based on a single church hymn. These includeO Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20,Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140,Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 62, andWie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1.[75]
Bach drew the soprano and alto choristers from the school and the tenors and basses from the school and elsewhere in Leipzig. Performing at weddings and funerals provided extra income for these groups; probably for this purpose, and for in-school training, he wrote at least sixmotets, such asBWV 227.[76] As part of his regular church work, he performed other composers' motets, which served as formal models for his own.[77] Bach's predecessor as cantor, Johann Kuhnau, had also been music director for the Paulinerkirch (St Paul's Church), the church ofLeipzig University. But when Bach was installed as cantor in 1723, he was put in charge only of music for church holiday services at the Paulinerkirch; his request to also provide music for regular Sunday services there for an added fee was denied.
In 1725 Bach "lost interest" in working even for festal services at the Paulinerkirch and decided to appear there only on "special occasions".[78] The Paulinerkirch had a much better and newer (1716) organ than the St Thomas Church or the St Nicholas Church.[79] Bach was not required to play any organ in his official duties, but it is believed he liked to play on the Paulinerkirch organ for his own pleasure.[80] Bach's last newly composed chorale cantata in his second year (his second annual cycle for cantata composition) in Leipzig wasWie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1, for the feast of theAnnunciation on 25March, which fell on Palm Sunday in 1725. Of the chorale cantatas composed before Palm Sunday 1725, only K77, 84, 89, 95, 96, and 109 (BWV135, 113, 130, 80, 115, and 111) were not included in thechorale cantata cycle that was still extant in Leipzig in 1830.[81]
Bach broadened his composing and performing beyond the liturgy by taking over, in March 1729, the directorship of theCollegium Musicum, a secular performance ensemble Telemann had started. This was one of the dozens of private societies in the major German-speaking cities established by musically active university students; they had become increasingly important in public musical life and were typically led by the most prominent professionals in a city. In the words ofChristoph Wolff, assuming the directorship was a shrewd move that "consolidated Bach's firm grip on Leipzig's principal musical institutions".[82] Every week, theCollegium Musicum gave two-hour performances, in winter at theCafé Zimmermann, a coffeehouse on Catherine Street off the main market square, and in summer in the owner Gottfried Zimmerman's outdoor coffee garden just outside the town walls, near the East Gate. The concerts, all free of charge, ended with Zimmermann's death in 1741. Apart from showcasing his earlier orchestral repertoire, such as theBrandenburg Concertos and orchestral suites, many of Bach's newly composed or reworked pieces were performed for these venues, including parts of hisClavier-Übung (Keyboard Practice), his violin andkeyboard concertos, and theCoffee Cantata.[27][83]
Before starting on the Gospel of Mark after 1730, Bach had composed the St John Passion and the St Matthew Passion; the St Matthew Passion was first performed on Good Friday 11 April 1727.[84] The 1731St Mark Passion (German:Markus-Passion),BWV 247, is a lostPassion setting by Bach, first performed in Leipzig onGood Friday, 23 March 1731. Though Bach's music is lost, the libretto byPicander is extant, and the work can to some degree be reconstructed from it.[85] In 1733 Bach composed aKyrie–Gloria Mass in B minor for the court in Dresden, which had become Catholic, that he later used in his Mass in B minor. He presented the manuscript to the Elector in a successful bid to persuade the prince to give him the title of Court Composer.[86] He later extended this work into a full mass by adding aCredo,Sanctus, andAgnus Dei, the music for which was partly based on his own cantatas and partly original. Bach's appointment as Court Composer was part of his long struggle to achieve greater bargaining power with the Leipzig council.
Bach's seal (centre), used throughout his Leipzig years. It contains the superimposed lettersJ S B in a mirror image topped with a crown. The flanking letters illustrate the arrangement on the seal.
Bach composed hisChristmas Oratorio for the 1734–35 Christmas season inLeipzig, by using works he had already composed such as theChristmas cantatas and other church music for all seven occasions of the Christmas season including part ofhis Weimar cantata cycle andChristen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63.[87] In 1735 Bach started preparing his first organ music publication, which was printed as the thirdClavier-Übung in 1739.[88] From around that year he started to compile and compose the set of preludes and fugues for harpsichord that became the second book ofThe Well-Tempered Clavier.[89] He received the title of "Royal Court Composer" fromAugustus III in 1736.[86][17] Between 1737 and 1739 Bach's former pupilCarl Gotthelf Gerlach held the directorship of the Collegium Musicum.[90]
In 1746 Bach was preparing to enterLorenz Christoph Mizler'sSociety of Musical Sciences [de].[104] To be admitted, he had to submit a composition. He chose hisCanonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her", and a portrait painted byElias Gottlob Haussmann that featured Bach'sCanon triplex á 6 Voc.[105] In May 1747, Bach visited the court of KingFrederick II of Prussia inPotsdam. The king played a theme for Bach and challenged him to improvise a fugue based on it. Bach obliged, playing a three-part fugue on one of Frederick's early prototypes of afortepiano,[106] a new type of instrument at the time. Upon his return to Leipzig he composed a set of fugues and canons and a trio sonata based on theThema Regium ("King's Theme"). Within a few weeks this music was published asThe Musical Offering and dedicated to Frederick. TheSchübler Chorales, a set of six chorale preludes transcribed from cantata movements Bach had written two decades earlier, were published within a year.[107][108] Around the same time, the set of five canonic variations Bach had submitted when entering Mizler's society in 1747 were also printed.[109]
Two large-scale compositions occupied a central place in Bach's last years. Beginning around 1742 he wrote and revised the various canons and fugues ofThe Art of Fugue, which he continued to prepare for publication until shortly before his death.[110][111] After extracting a cantata,BWV 191 from his1733 Kyrie-Gloria Mass for the Dresden court in the mid-1740s, Bach expanded thatsetting into hisMass in B minor in the last years of his life. The complete mass was not performed during his lifetime. It is considered among the greatest choral works in history.[112] In January 1749, with Bach in declining health, his daughter Elisabeth Juliane Friederica married his pupilJohann Christoph Altnickol. On 2 JuneHeinrich von Brühl wrote to one of the Leipzigburgomasters to request that his music director,Gottlob Harrer, fill the Thomaskantor andDirector musices posts "upon the eventual ... decease of Mr. Bach".[113] His eyesight failing, Bach underwent eye surgery in March 1750 and again in April by the British eye surgeonJohn Taylor, a man widely understood today as a charlatan and believed to have blinded hundreds of people.[114]
Death and burial
Bach died on 28 July 1750 from complications due to unsuccessful eye surgery.[115] He had astroke a few days before his death.[116][117][118] He was originally buried atOld St John's Cemetery in Leipzig, where his grave went unmarked for nearly 150 years. In 1894, his remains were found and moved to a vault inSt John's Church. This building was destroyed byAllied bombing during the Second World War, and in 1950 Bach's remains were taken to their present grave in St Thomas Church.[27] Later research has called into question whether the remains in the grave are actually Bach's.[119]
In addition to his study of German composers and without visiting France or Italy, Bach absorbed influences from French and Italian music. From an early age, Bach studied the works of his musical contemporaries of the Baroque period and those of earlier generations, and those influences are reflected in his music.[122]
Italian influences including Weimar concerto transcriptions
The court at Weimar was particularly interested in Italian music. There have been questions of attribution about some of the music Bach was exposed to there, butAntonio Vivaldi was certainly an important influence on him. In particular, Bach borrowed the idea of propulsive rhythmic patterns.[123][124]
Themodel for BWV 974 has been variously attributed to Vivaldi,Benedetto Marcello, andAlessandro Marcello. In the second half of the 20th century, theoboe concerto that was the model for Bach's transcription was attributed to Allesandro Marcello again—as it had been in its 1717 printed edition—through research of scholars such as Eleanor Selfridge-Field.[125][126][127]
The model forBWV 979 has been attributed to Vivaldi and toGiuseppe Torelli. Listed as No. 10 in theAnhang (Appendix) of theRyom-Verzeichnis (RV), it was generally attributed to Torelli. Federico Maria Sardelli argued against the attribution to Torelli, and in favour of an attribution to Vivaldi, in an article published in 2005. Consequently, the concerto was relisted as RV 813. The composition originated before 1711: its seven movements and second viola part are not compatible with Vivaldi's later style.[124][128][129]
No models have been identified forBWV 977,983, and986. Stylistically BWV 977 is more Italianate than BWV 983 and 986. David Schulenberg supposes an Italian model for BWV 977, and German models for the other two concertos.[130]
Bach realised his other transcriptions of Vivaldi concertos after versions circulating as manuscript. Later versions of some of these were published in hisOp. 4 and 7:
After Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in B-flat major (later version published as Op. 4 No. 1, RV 383a): Concerto in G major, BWV 980 (harpsichord)[123]
After Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in G minor, RV 316 (later version published as Op. 4 No. 6, RV 316a): Concerto in G minor, BWV 975 (harpsichord)[123]
After Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in G major (later version published as Op. 7 No. 8, RV 299): Concerto in G major, BWV 973 (harpsichord)[123]
After Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in D minor, RV 813 (formerly RV Anh. 10 often attributed toTorelli):[124] Concerto in B minor, BWV 979 (harpsichord)
Bach also used the theme of the first movement of the "Spring" concerto fromThe Four Seasons for the third movement (aria) of his cantataWer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende? BWV 27. Bach was deeply influenced by Vivaldi's concertos and arias (recalled in hisSt John Passion,St Matthew Passion, andcantatas). According to Christoph Wolff and Walter Emery, Bach transcribed six of Vivaldi's concerti for solo keyboard, three for organ, and one for four harpsichords, strings, andbasso continuo (BWV 1065) based on Vivaldi's concerto for four violins, two violas, cello, and basso continuo (RV 580).[16][131]
Arcangelo Corelli's influence inchamber music was not confined to his native Italy; his works were key in the development of the music of an entire generation of composers, including Bach, Vivaldi,Georg Friedrich Handel, andFrançois Couperin. Bach studied Corelli's work and based an organ fugue (BWV 579) on his Opus 3 of 1689. Handel'sOpus 6Concerti Grossi take Corelli's olderOpus 6Concerti as models, rather than the later three-movement Venetian concerto of Vivaldi favoured by Bach.[132]
French influences
Jean-Baptiste Lully is credited with the invention in the 1650s of theFrench overture, a form used extensively in the Baroque and Classical eras, especially by Bach and Handel.[133] The later French composerFrançois Couperin has been seen as an influence on the dance-based movements of Bach's keyboard suites.[134] The influence of Lully's music produced a radical revolution in the style and composition of thedances of the French court, which Bach made use of in his music. Instead of the slow and stately movements that had prevailed until Lully began composing, Lully introduced livelyballets of rapidrhythm, often based on well-known dance types such asgavottes,menuets,rigaudons, andsarabandes, forms often used by Bach.[135][136]
Creative range
A handwritten note by Bach in his copy of theCalov Bible. The note next to2 Chronicles 5:13 reads: "NB Bey einer andächtigen Musiq ist allezeit Gott mit seiner Gnaden Gegenwart" (N(ota) B(ene) In a music of worship God is always present with his grace).
Bach's creative range and musical style encompassed four-part harmony,[137] modulation,[138] ornamentation,[139] use of continuo instruments solos,[140] virtuoso instrumentation,[141] counterpoint,[142] and a refined attention to structure and lyrics.[143][144] Like his contemporaries Handel, Telemann, and Vivaldi, Bach composed concertos, suites, recitatives,da capo arias, and four-part choral music, and employedbasso continuo. Most of the prints of Bach's music that appeared during his lifetime were commissioned by the composer.[145] His music is harmonically more innovative than his peers', employing surprisinglydissonant chords and progressions, often extensively exploring harmonic possibilities within one piece.[146]
Bach's hundreds of sacred works are usually seen as manifesting not just his craft but also a deep faith in God.[147][148] His commitment to the Lutheran faith was reflected in his teachingLuther's Small Catechism as theThomaskantor in Leipzig, and some of his pieces represent it.[149] TheLutheran chorale was the basis of much of his work. In elaborating these hymns into his chorale preludes, he wrote more cogent and tightly integrated works than most, even when they were massive and lengthy.[150][151] The large-scale structure of every major Bach sacred vocal work is evidence of subtle, elaborate planning to create religiously and musically powerful expression.[152] Bach published or carefully compiled in manuscript many collections of pieces that explored the range of artistic and technical possibilities inherent in almost every genre of his time exceptopera. For example,The Well-Tempered Clavier comprises two books, each of which presents a prelude and fugue in every major and minor key.[153]
Four-part harmony predates Bach, but he lived during a time whenmodal music in Western tradition was largely supplanted by thetonal system. In this system a piece of music progresses from onechord to the next according to certain rules, with each chord characterised by four notes. The principles of four-part harmony are found not only in Bach's four-part choral music; he also prescribes it for instance infigured bass accompaniment.[137] The new system was at the core of Bach's style. Some examples of this characteristic of Bach's style and its influence:
When in the 1740s Bach stagedhis arrangement ofPergolesi'sStabat Mater, he upgraded the viola part (which in the original composition plays in unison with the bass part) to fill in the harmony, thus adapting the composition to four-part harmony.[154]
When, starting in the 19th century in Russia, there was a discussion about the authenticity of four-part court chant settings compared to earlier Russian traditions,Bach's four-part chorale settings, such as those ending hisChorale cantatas, were considered foreign-influenced models, but such influence was deemed unavoidable.[155]
Bach re-interpreting older genres tied to the modal system
Bach's insistence on the tonal system and contribution to shaping it did not imply he was less at ease with the older modal system and the genres associated with it: more than his contemporaries (who had "moved on" to the tonal system without much exception), he often returned to the then-antiquated modes and genres. HisChromatic Fantasia and Fugue, emulating thechromatic fantasia genre used by earlier composers such asJohn Dowland andJan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in DDorian mode (comparable toD minor in the tonal system), is an example. Bach's first biographer,Johann Nikolaus Forkel, wrote of Bach's original approach to this: "I have expended much effort to find another piece of this type by Bach. But it was in vain. This fantasy is unique and has always been second to none."[156]
Modulation
Modulation, or changingkey in the course of a piece, is another style characteristic where Bach goes beyond the norm in his time. Baroque instruments vastly limited modulation possibilities: keyboard instruments, before a workable system oftemperament, limited the keys that could be modulated to, and wind instruments, especially brass instruments such astrumpets andhorns, about a century before they were fitted with valves andcrooks, were tied to the key of their tuning. Bach pushed the limits: he added "strange tones" in his organ playing, confusing the singers, according to an indictment he had to face in Arnstadt,[138] andLouis Marchand, another early experimenter with modulation, seems to have avoided confrontation with Bach because the latter went further than anyone had done before.[157] In the "Suscepit Israel" of his 1723 Magnificat, he had the trumpets in E-flat play a melody in theenharmonic scale of C minor.[158]
The major development in Bach's time to which he contributed in no small way was a temperament for keyboard instruments that allowed their use in every key (12 major and 12 minor) and also modulation without retuning. HisCapriccio on the departure of a beloved brother, a very early work, showed a gusto for modulation unlike any contemporary work it has been compared to,[159] but the full expansion came withThe Well-Tempered Clavier, using all keys, which Bach apparently had been developing since around 1720, theKlavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach being one of its earliest examples.[160]
The second page of theKlavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is anornament notation and performance guide that Bach wrote for his then nine-year-old eldest son. Bach was generally quite specific on ornamentation in his compositions (in his time, much ornamentation was not written out by composers but rather considered a liberty of the performer),[139] and his ornamentation was often quite elaborate. For instance, the "Aria" of theGoldberg Variations has rich ornamentation in nearly every measure. Bach's approach to ornamentation can also be seen in a keyboard arrangement he made of Marcello'sOboe Concerto: he added explicit ornamentation, which centuries later is still played.[161]
Although Bach wrote no operas, he was not averse to the genre or its ornamented vocal style. In church music, Italian composers had imitated the operatic vocal style in genres such as theNeapolitan mass. In Protestant surroundings, there was more reluctance to adopt such a style for liturgical music. Kuhnau had notoriously shunned opera and Italian virtuoso vocal music.[162] Bach was less moved. After a performance of hisSt Matthew Passion it was described as sounding like opera.[163]
In concerted playing in Bach's time, the basso continuo, consisting of instruments such asviola da gamba or cello, and harpsichord or organ, usually had the role of accompaniment, providing a piece's harmonic and rhythmic foundation. Beginning in the 1720s Bach had the organ playconcertante (i.e., as a soloist) with the orchestra in instrumental cantata movements,[164] a decade before Handel published hisfirst organ concertos.[165] Apart from thefifthBrandenburg Concerto and theTriple Concerto, which already had harpsichord soloists in the 1720s, Bach wrote and arranged his harpsichord concertos in the 1730s,[166] and in his sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord neither instrument plays a continuo part: they are treated as equal soloists, far beyond the figured bass. In this way, Bach played a key role in the development of genres such as the keyboard concerto.[140]
Instrumentation
Bach wrote virtuoso music for specific instruments as well as music independent of instrumentation. For instance, thesonatas and partitas for solo violin are considered among the finest works written for violin, within reach of only accomplished players. The music fits the instrument, using the full gamut of its possibilities and requiring virtuosity but withoutbravura.[141] Notwithstanding that the music and the instrument seem inseparable, Bach transcribed some pieces in this collection for other instruments. For example, Bach transcribed one of thecello suites for lute.[167] In this sense, it is no surprise that Bach's music is easily and often performed on instruments it was not written for, that it istranscribed so often, and that his melodies turn up in unexpected places, such as jazz music. Apart from this, Bach left several compositions without specified instrumentation: the canonsBWV 1072–1078 are in that category, as is the bulk of theMusical Offering and theArt of Fugue.[168]
Counterpoint
Analysis of the counterpoint of the chorale preludeHerr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend',BWV 632 (Orgelbüchlein)
Another characteristic of Bach's style is his extensive use ofcounterpoint, as opposed to thehomophony used in his four-part chorale settings, for example. Bach's canons, and especially his fugues, are the most characteristic of this style, which he did not invent but contributed to so fundamentally as to influence many followers.[169] Fugues are as characteristic of Bach's style as, for instance,sonata form is of the composers of theClassical period.[142]
These strictly contrapuntal compositions, and most of Bach's music in general, are characterised by distinct melodic lines for each voice, where the chords formed by the notes sounding at a given point follow the rules of four-part harmony. Forkel, Bach's first biographer, gives this description of this feature of Bach's music, which sets it apart from most other music:
If the language of music is merely the utterance of a melodic line, a simple sequence of musical notes, it can justly be accused of poverty. The addition of a Bass puts it upon a harmonic foundation and clarifies it but defines rather than gives it added richness. A melody so accompanied—even though all the notes are not those of the true Bass—or treated with simple embellishments in the upper parts or with simple chords used to be called "homophony". But it is a very different thing when two melodies are so interwoven that they converse together like two persons upon a footing of pleasant equality/... From 1720, when he was thirty-five until he died in 1750, Bach's harmony consists in this melodic interweaving of independent melodies, so perfect in their union that each part seems to constitute the true melody... Even in his four-part writing, we can, not infrequently, leave out the upper and lower parts and still find the middle parts harmonious and agreeable.[170]
Structure and lyrics
Bach devoted more attention than his contemporaries to the structure of his compositions. This can be seen in minor adjustments he made when adapting someone else's work, such as his earliest version of the"Keiser"St Mark Passion, where he enhances scene transitions,[171] and in the architecture of his own work, such as hisMagnificat[158] andLeipzig Passions. In his last years, Bach revised several of his compositions, sometimes by recasting them in an enhanced structure for emphasis, as with, for example, theMass in B minor. Bach's known preoccupation with structure led to various numerological analyses of his compositions. These peaked around the 1970s. Many were later rejected, especially those that wandered into symbolism-riddenhermeneutics.[172][173]
Thelibrettos, or lyrics, of his vocal compositions played an essential role for Bach. He sought collaboration with various text authors for his cantatas and major vocal compositions, possibly writing or adapting such texts himself to make them fit the structure of the composition when he could not rely on the talents of other text authors. His collaboration withPicander for theSt Matthew Passion libretto is best known, but there was a similar process in achieving a multi-layered structure for hisSt John Passion libretto a few years earlier.[174][175]
Among the compositional techniques Bach used, the form of the fugue recurs throughout his lifetime; afugue (derives from the Latin with the meaning "flight" or "escape"[176]) is acontrapuntal,polyphoniccompositional technique in two or morevoices, built on asubject (a musical theme) introduced at the beginning inimitation (repetition at different pitches), which recurs frequently throughout the composition. Most fugues open with the subject,[177] which then sounds successively in eachvoice. When each voice has completed its entry of the subject, theexposition is complete. This is often followed by a connecting passage, orepisode, developed from previously heard material; further "entries" of the subject are then heard inrelated keys. Episodes (if applicable) and entries are usually alternated until the final entry of the subject, at which point the music has returned to the opening key, ortonic, which is often followed by acoda.[178][179][180] Bach was well known for his fugues and shaped his own works after those ofJan Pieterszoon Sweelinck,Johann Jakob Froberger,Johann Pachelbel,Girolamo Frescobaldi,Dieterich Buxtehude and others.[181]
Copies, arrangements, and uncertain attributions
Some of Bach's most popular melodies are, more often than not, heard in various arrangements:
The aria "Schafe können sicher weiden" (Sheep May Safely Graze), No. 9 from theHunting Cantata, BWV 208: composed for soprano, recorders, and continuo, the music of this movement exists in a variety of instrumental arrangements.
In his early youth, Bach copied pieces by other composers to learn from them.[182] Later, he copied and arranged music for performance or as study material for his pupils. Some of these pieces, like "Bist du bei mir" (copied not by Bach but by Anna Magdalena), became famous before being associated with Bach. Bach copied and arranged Italian masters such as Vivaldi (e.g.BWV 1065),Pergolesi (BWV 1083) andPalestrina (Missa Sine nomine), French masters such asFrançois Couperin (BWV Anh. 183), and various German masters, including Telemann (e.g.BWV 824=TWV 32:14) and Handel (arias fromBrockes Passion), and music by members of his own family. He also often copied and arranged his own music (e.g. movements from cantatas for his short massesBWV 233–236), as his music was likewise copied and arranged by others. Some of these arrangements, like the late 19th-century "Air on the G String", helped to popularise Bach's music.[183][184][185]
The question of "who copied whom" is sometimes unclear. For instance, Forkel mentions a Mass for double chorus among Bach's works. It was published and performed in the early 19th century. Although a score partially in Bach's handwriting exists, the work was later considered spurious.[186] In 1950, the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis was designed to keep such works out of the main catalogue; if there was a strong association with Bach, they could be listed in its appendix (German:Anhang, abbreviated as Anh.). Thus, for instance, the Mass for double chorus becameBWV Anh. 167. But this was far from the end of the attribution problems. For instance,Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde, BWV 53, was later attributed toMelchior Hoffmann. For other works, Bach's authorship was put in doubt: the best-known organ composition in the BWV catalogue, theToccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, was one of these uncertain works in the late 20th century.[187]
The church in Arnstadt where Bach had been the organist from 1703 to 1707. In 1935, the church was renamed "Bachkirche".
In the 18th century Bach's music was appreciated mostly by distinguished connoisseurs. The 19th century started with the publication of the first biography of Bach and ended with theBach Gesellschaft's completion and publication of all his known works. Starting with theBach Revival, he began to be regarded as one of the greatest composers, a reputation he has maintained. TheBACH motif, which Bach occasionally used in his compositions, has been used in dozens of tributes to him since the 19th century.[188]
18th century
Painting of Johann Sebastian Bach by 'Gebel', before 1798
In his own time, Bach was highly regarded by his colleagues,[189] but his reputation outside this small circle of connoisseurs was due not to his compositions (which had an extremely narrow circulation),[16] but to his virtuosic abilities. Nevertheless, during his life, Bach received public recognition, such as the title of court composer byAugustus III of Poland and the appreciation he was shown byFrederick the Great andHermann Karl von Keyserling. This appreciation contrasted with the humiliations he faced, for instance, in Leipzig.[190] Bach also had detractors in the contemporary press (Johann Adolf Scheibe suggested he write less complex music) and supporters, such asJohann Mattheson andLorenz Christoph Mizler.[191][192][193] After his death, Bach's reputation as a composer initially declined: his work was regarded as old-fashioned compared to the emerginggalant style.[194] He was remembered more as a virtuoso organ player and a teacher. The bulk of the musicprinted during his lifetime was for organ or harpsichord.[46]
Bach's surviving family members, who inherited many of his manuscripts, were not all equally concerned with preserving them, leading to considerable losses.[195]Carl Philipp Emanuel, his second-eldest son, was most active in safeguarding his father's legacy: he co-authored his father's obituary, contributed to the publication of his four-part chorales,[196] presented some of his works, and helped preserve the bulk of his previously unpublished work.[197][198] Later, just after the turn of the century in 1805,Abraham Mendelssohn, who had married one of Itzig's granddaughters, bought a substantial collection of Bach manuscripts that had come down from C. P. E. Bach, and donated it to theBerlin Sing-Akademie.[199]
While Bach was in Leipzig, performances of his church music were limited to some of his motets and, under his student cantorJohann Friedrich Doles, some ofhis Passions.[205] A new generation of Bach aficionados emerged who studiously collected and copied his music, including some of his large-scale works, such as theMass in B minor, and performed it privately. One wasGottfried van Swieten, a high-ranking Austrian official who was instrumental in passing Bach's legacy on to the composers of theViennese school.Haydn owned manuscript copies ofThe Well-Tempered Clavier and the Mass in B minor and was influenced by Bach's music.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart owned a copy of one of Bach's motets,[206] transcribed some of his instrumental works (Preludes and Fugues for Violin, Viola and Cello, K. 404a (1782), Fugues for 2 Violins, Viola and Cello, K. 405 (1782)),[207][208] and wrote contrapuntal music influenced by his style.[209][210]Ludwig van Beethoven had learnedThe Well-Tempered Clavier in its entirety by the time he was 11 in 1781 and called Bach theUrvater der Harmonie (progenitor of harmony).[5][211][212][213][214]
Image of theOld Bach Monument erected by Felix Mendelssohn in Leipzig in 1843
In 1802Johann Nikolaus Forkel publishedJohann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work, the first Bach biography, dedicated to van Swieten.[215] In 1805,Abraham Mendelssohn bought a substantial collection of Bach manuscripts that had come down from C. P. E. Bach, and donated it to the Berlin Sing-Akademie.[203] The Sing-Akademie occasionally performed Bach's works in public concerts, for instance, hisfirst keyboard concerto, with Sara Itzig Levy at the piano.[203] Since the 19th-centuryBach Revival, he has been widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.[216]
The first decades of the 19th century saw an increasing number of first publications of Bach's music:Breitkopf & Härtel started publishing chorale preludes,[217] Hoffmeister harpsichord music,[218] andThe Well-Tempered Clavier was printed concurrently byN. Simrock (Germany),Hans Georg Nägeli (Switzerland) andFranz Anton Hoffmeister (Germany and Austria) in 1801.[219] Vocal music was also published: motets in 1802 and 1803, followed by theE♭ major version of the Magnificat, theKyrie-Gloria Mass in A major, and the cantataEin feste Burg ist unser Gott (BWV 80).[220] In 1818 the publisherHans Georg Nägeli called the Mass in B minor the greatest composition ever.[5] Bach's influence was felt in the next generation of early Romantic composers.[211] Abraham's son Felix, aged 13, produced his first Magnificat setting in 1822, and it is clearly inspired by the then-unpublished D major version of Bach's Magnificat.[221]
Felix Mendelssohn's 1829 performance of theSt Matthew Passion precipitated the Bach Revival.[222] TheSt John Passion saw its 19th-century premiere in 1833, and the first public performance of the Mass in B minor followed in 1844. Besides these and other public performances and increased coverage of the composer and his compositions in printed media, the 1830s and 1840s also saw the first publication of more Bach vocal works: six cantatas, theSt Matthew Passion, and the Mass in B minor. A series of organ compositions were first published in 1833.[223]Frédéric Chopin started composing his24 Preludes, Op. 28, inspired byThe Well-Tempered Clavier,[224] in 1835, andRobert Schumann published hisSechs Fugen über den Namen BACH [de] in 1845. Bach's music was transcribed and arranged to suit contemporary tastes and performance practice by composers such asCarl Friedrich Zelter,Robert Franz, andFranz Liszt, or combined with new music such as the melody line ofCharles Gounod's "Ave Maria".[5][225]
In 1850 theBach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society) was founded to promote Bach's music. The Society choseWie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1 as the first composition in the first volume of theBach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe (BGA).Robert Schumann, the publisher of theNeue Zeitschrift für Musik, ThomaskantorMoritz Hauptmann, and the philologistOtto Jahn initiated this first complete edition of Bach's works a century after his death.[226][227] Its first volume was published in 1851, edited by Hauptmann.[228] In the second half of the 19th century, the Society published a comprehensive edition of his works. In 1854, Bach was deemed one of theThree Bs byPeter Cornelius, the others being Beethoven andHector Berlioz. (Hans von Bülow later replaced Berlioz with Brahms.) From 1873 to 1880Philipp Spitta publishedJohann Sebastian Bach, the standard work on Bach's life and music.[229] During the 19th century, 200 books were published on Bach. By the end of the century, local Bach societies were established in several cities, and his music had been performed in all major musical centres.[5] In 19th-century Germany, Bach was coupled with nationalist feeling. In England, Bach was coupled with a revival of religious and Baroque music. By the end of the century, Bach was firmly established as one of the greatest composers, recognised for both his instrumental and his vocal music.[5]
20th century
1908Statue of Bach in front of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig28 July 1950: memorial service for Bach in Leipzig's Thomaskirche, on the 200th anniversary of the composer's death
During the 20th century, recognition of the musical andpedagogic value of Bach's works continued, as in the promotion of thecello suites byPablo Casals, the first major performer to record them.[230]Claude Debussy called Bach a "benevolent God" "to whom musicians should offer a prayer before setting to work so that they may be preserved from mediocrity."[231]Glenn Gould's debut1955 recording of theGoldberg Variations transformed the work from an obscure piece often considered "esoteric" to part of the standard piano repertoire.[232] The album had "astonishing" sales for a classical work: it was reported to have sold 40,000 copies by 1960, and had sold more than 100,000 by the time of Gould's death in 1982.[233][234]Andres Segovia left behind a large body of edited works and transcriptions for classical guitar, notably a transcription of theChaconne from the2nd Partita for Violin (BWV 1004).[235]
A significant development in the later 20th century washistorically informed performance practice, with forerunners such asNikolaus Harnoncourt acquiring prominence through their performances of Bach's music.[236] Bach's keyboard music was again performed on theharpsichord and other Baroque instruments rather than on modern pianos and 19th-century romantic organs. Ensembles playing and singing Bach's music not only kept to the instruments and the performance style of his day but were also reduced to the size of the groups Bach used for his performances.[237] But that was not the only way Bach's music came to the forefront in the 20th century: his music was heard in versions ranging fromFerruccio Busoni's late-romanticBach-Busoni Editions for piano to the orchestrations ofLeopold Stokowski, whose interpretation of theToccata and Fugue in D minor openedDisney'sFantasia film.[238]
In the 21st century Bach's compositions have become available online, for instance at theInternational Music Score Library Project.[250] High-resolution facsimiles of Bach's autographs became available at theBach Digital website.[251] 21st-century biographers includeChristoph Wolff,Peter Williams, andJohn Eliot Gardiner.[n 4] In 2011Anthony Tommasini, chief classical music critic ofThe New York Times, ranked Bach the greatest composer of all time, "for his matchless combination of masterly musical engineering (as one reader put it) and profound expressivity. Since writing about Bach in the first article of this series I have been thinking more about the perception that he was considered old-fashioned in his day. Haydn was 18 when Bach died, in 1750, and Classicism was stirring. Bach was surely aware of the new trends. Yet he reacted by digging deeper into his way of doing things. In his austerely beautifulArt of Fugue, left incomplete at his death, Bach reduced complex counterpoint to its bare essentials, not even indicating the instrument (or instruments) for which these works were composed... through his chorales alone Bach explored the far reaches of tonal harmony."[252]
Alex Ross wrote, "Bach became an absolute master of his art by never ceasing to be a student of it. His most exalted sacred works—the two extant Passions, from the seventeen-twenties, and the Mass in B Minor, completed not long before his death in 1750—are feats of synthesis, mobilizing secular devices to spiritual ends. They are rooted in archaic chants, hymns, and chorales. They honour, with consummate skill, the scholastic discipline of canon and fugue... Their furious development of brief motifs anticipates Beethoven, who worshipped Bach when he was young. And their most daring harmonic adventures—for example, the otherworldly modulations in the 'Confiteor' of the B-Minor Mass—look ahead toWagner, even toSchoenberg."[253] Theliturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church has afeast day for Bach on 28 July;[254] on the same day, theCalendar of Saints of someLutheran churches, such as theELCA, remembers Bach, Handel, andHeinrich Schütz.[255] As of 2013 over 150 recordings have been made ofThe Well-Tempered Clavier.[256] In 2015 Bach's handwritten personal copy of the Mass in B minor, held by theBerlin State Library, was added toUNESCO'sMemory of the World Register.[257] On March 21, 2019, Bach was celebrated in an interactiveGoogle Doodle that used machine learning to synthesize a tune in his signature style.[258]
^Bach's birthdate—21 March 1685—is according to theJulian calendar (Old Style; O.S.), used in German regions at the time of his birth. From 18 February 1700 onwards, Protestant Germany introduced theGregorian calendar, under which Bach's birthdate would be 31 March 1685 (New Style; N.S.).[9]
^Robin A. Leaver, "St Matthew Passion"Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach, ed. Malcolm Boyd. Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999): 430. "Until 1975 it was thought that theSt Matthew Passion was originally composed for Good Friday 1729, but modern research strongly suggests that it was performed two years earlier."
^Musikalische Bibliothek, IV.1 [1754], 108 and Tab. IV, fig. 16(Source online); letter of Mizler to Spieß, 29 June 1748, in: Hans Rudolf Jung and Hans-Eberhard Dentler:Briefe von Lorenz Mizler und Zeitgenossen an Meinrad Spieß, in:Studi musicali 2003, Nr. 32, 115.
^Hans Gunter Hoke: "Neue Studien zurKunst der Fuge BWV 1080", in:Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft 17 (1975), 95–115; Hans-Eberhard Dentler: "Johann Sebastian BachsKunst der Fuge – Ein pythagoreisches Werk und seine Verwirklichung", Mainz 2004; Hans-Eberhard Dentler: "Johann Sebastian BachsMusicalisches Opfer – Musik als Abbild der Sphärenharmonie", Mainz 2008.
^Lockspeiser, E. “French Influences on Bach.” Music & Letters, vol. 16, no. 4, 1935, pp. 312–20. JSTOR,http://www.jstor.org/stable/728728. Accessed 6 June 2025.
^The Encyclopædia Britannica (15th ed.). Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago. 1990. p. 445, Volume 10.
^André Isoir (organ) and Le Parlement de Musique conducted by Martin Gester.Johann Sebastian Bach: L'oeuvre pour orgue et orchestre.Calliope 1993. Liner notes byGilles Cantagrel.
^"Fugue,n."The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006)."Oxford Reference Online, subscription access". Retrieved16 March 2007.
^Ulrich Prinz, Joachim Dorfmüller andKonrad Küster (1985).Die Tonfolge B–A–C–H in Kompositionen des 17. bis 20. Jahrhunderts: ein Verzeichnis, in:300 Jahre Sebastian Bach (exhibition catalogue), pp. 389–419.ISBN3-7952-0459-3
^Johann Sebastian Bach. Letter to Augustus III of Poland. 27 July 1733; Quoted in Hans T. David andArthur Mendel,The Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents. W. W. Norton, 1945, p. 128; Quoted inDavid, Mendel & Wolff 1998, p. 158.
^Edward Noel Green.Chromatic Completion in the Late Vocal Music of Haydn and Mozart: A Technical, Philosophic, and Historical Study, p. 273. New York University.ISBN978-0-549-79451-6
^Johann Sebastian Bach's noch wenig bekannte Orgelcompositionen (auch am Pianoforte von einem oder zwei Spielern ausführbar), three volumes, edited byAdolph Bernhard Marx. Leipzig:Breitkopf & Härtel, 1833
^Tommasini, Anthony (2018).The Indispensable Composers: A Personal Guide. p. 39.
^Siepmann, Jeremy (January 1990). "Glenn Gould and the Interpreter's Prerogative".The Musical Times.131 (1763). The Musical Times, Vol. 131, No. 1763:25–27.doi:10.2307/965621.JSTOR965621.
Wolff, Christoph (2000).Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-816534-7.Second edition, 2013, W. W. Norton, New York and London,ISBN978-0-393-32256-9 pbk.
Herl, Joseph (2004).Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-195-15439-9.
Lester, Joel (1999).Bach's Works for Solo Violin: Style, Structure, Performance. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-195-12097-4.
Marshall, Robert L., and Robin A. Leaver. 2001. "Chorale".The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. Macmillan Publishers.
Mazullo, Mark (2010).Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues: Contexts, Style, Performance. Yale University Press.ISBN978-0-300-14943-2.
Miles, Russell H. (1962).Johann Sebastian Bach: An Introduction to His Life and Works. Prentice Hall.OCLC600065.
Selfridge-Field, Eleanor (1990).The Music of Benedetto and Alessandro Marcello: A Thematic Catalogue with Commentary on the Composers, Repertory, and Sources. Oxford University Press/Clarendon Press.ISBN978-0-193-16126-9.
Stauffer, George B. (2008). "Music for "Cavaliers et Dames": Bach and the Repertoire of His Collegium Musicum". In Butler, Gregory G.; Stauffer, George B.; Greer, Mary Galton (eds.).About Bach.University of Illinois Press. pp. 135–156.ISBN978-0-252-03344-5.
Van Til, Marian (2007).George Frideric Handel: A Music Lover's Guide to His Life, His Faith & the Development of Messiah and His Other Oratorios. WordPower Publishing.ISBN978-0-979-47850-5.
Williams, Peter (1980),The Organ Music of J. S. Bach, Volume II: BWV 599–771, etc., Cambridge Studies in Music, Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-521-31700-9;Williams, Peter (2003b),The Organ Music of J. S. Bach (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-521-89115-8
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