Early Bach

Abstract

This is the first instalment of a two-volume survey that aims to cover all Bach's works. It therefore overlaps with other surveys. Christoph Wolff's Johann Sebastian Bach: the learned musician (reviewed Early Music, xxix (2001), pp.128–30) is a monumental account of Bach's life and environment, but is light on analysis of the music. David Schulenberg's The keyboard music of J. S. Bach (the original 1993 version was reviewed in Early Music, xxii (1994), pp.137–9, the revised version of 2006 is too recent for Jones to have used, as is the recent discovery of Bach's earliest keyboard manuscripts), while roughly chronological in layout, is not so much concerned to trace lines of development as to provide commentaries on individual pieces. The same goes for Peter Williams's The organ music of J. S. Bach (1980; 2/2003) which is non-chronological in layout, being organized according to bwv numbers. Alfred Dürr's The cantatas of J. S. Bach (German edn 6/1995, English trans. Richard Jones 2005) is organized according to the liturgical calendar. Dürr in any case deals mainly with liturgical context, text and sources, while Jones deals much more with musical substance. For Jones the biography is secondary, setting the scene for what is really important and interesting, Bach's creative journey from highly talented if rather wild youth to being a supreme exemplar of organization and control.