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"Stinson's book is completely up-to-date and presents a wealth of new material - particularly involving chronology and music style - never before available in English. An exhaustive bibliography is provided as well as copious musical examples and facsimile reproductions from the autograph. For even the most seasoned Bach aficionado, this study will open up fresh perspectives on some of the composer's greatest creations."--Jacket.

Bach's organ works--the best-known of all music ever written for the instrument--have been the subject of a great variety of interpretations, all too often based on subjective opinion and conjecture. What the author does in this piece-by-piece commentary is to combine a performer's insight and experience with the fruits of scholarly research. He is concerned throughout to reconstruct for the modern performer and listener the original context of the work: its sources and history; its place in the composer's development; the implications of contemporary instruments and performing practice, and of the musical and aesthetic theories of the time; and the background which shaped Bach's view of the original chorale melodies. Each of the collections of organ chorales is examined as an entity in a preliminary essay. Then for each piece the author discusses the important sources and their relationship; quotes the underlying chorale melody and one or more verses of the text (with a literal translation) and describes its importance in the life of Bach's church; and analyses the form and style of the organ setting, with many musical examples and frequent allusions to the views of other commentators.

“This book provides for the first time, a comprehensive study of all the Chorale Preludes which J.S. Bach wrote for organ solo. The historical explanations are accompanied by notes on the proper performance of each prelude, and the volume is produced in manageable size for use at the console of the organ.” -- BOOK JACKET.

Expertly arranged Organ music by Johann Sebastian Bach from the Kalmus Edition series. These works are from the Baroque era and include 56 Chorale Preludes (The Little Organ Book) and the Chorale Variations. This volume was written for advanced players.