For more than 100 years now, the name of Johann Sebastian Bach has been considered among the most highly regarded of all composers. The “holy cantor” church musician has been written about in many books. So, it might be difficult for some of us to imagine, but for several generations after his death, Bach had been forgotten. What remained of his vast number of works gathered dust in private collections or distant archives. Many of his works were discarded; in fact, some found their way to a butcher shop and are reported to have been used as wrapping paper. It took a twenty-year-old musician, who would become as well known as Bach, to bring about an interest in his works. In 1829, Felix Mendelssohn performed the St. Matthew Passion, and revived interest in the long-forgotten composer. The genius of Bach was finally recognized by the world. In this delightful story, young adults are introduced to one of the greatest composers of all time. Combining music, history, and culture with biography, this story is as entertaining as it is educational—a musical journey back through time.

Publisher Description

Describes how Johann Sebastian Bach survived the sorrows of his childhood and composed the music the world has come to love.

Now available in paperback, this landmark biography was first published in 2000 to mark the 250th anniversary of J. S. Bach's death. Written by a leading Bach scholar, this book presents a new picture of the composer. Christoph Wolff demonstrates the intimate connection between Bach's life and his music, showing how the composer's superb inventiveness pervaded his career as a musician, composer, performer, scholar, and teacher.

Johann Sebastian Bach helped to create some incredible music. Learn about his life in this exciting title.

Highlights the life and achievements of the eighteenth-century German composer and musician, and examines the development of his most important compositions.

In this new biography, Eidam brings the icon of baroque music into focus as never before. Through painstaking research and careful evaluation of existing documents, he debunks a number of myths that have surrounded Bach in the 250 years since his death. Illustrations.

'The New Bach Reader' contains a collection of documents intended to bring the composer to life.

More than two centuries after his lifetime, J. S. Bach's work continues to set musical standards. Noted Bach scholar Christoph Wolff offers new perspectives on the composer's life and remarkable career.

Peter Williams approaches afresh the life and music of arguably the most studied of all composers, interpreting both Bach's life by deconstructing his original obituary in the light of more recent information and his music by evaluating his priorities and irrepressible creative energy. How, even though belonging to musical families on both his parents' sides, did he come to possess so bewitching a sense of rhythm and melody and a mastery of harmony that established nothing less than a norm in Western culture? In considering that the works of a composer are his biography, the book's title A Life in Music means both a life spent making music and one revealed in the music as we know it. A distinguished scholar and performer, Williams re-examines Bach's life as an orphan and family man, as an extraordinarily gifted composer and player and as an ambitious artist who never suffered fools gladly.