J. S. Bach - George B Stauffer

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Résumé :

• Preface


• Abbreviations and Terms




• Introduction: The World of Bach's Organ Music


• Central German Music Culture ~ Grandest Machine of All ~ Transmission of Bach's Organ Works


• Part I - Learning the Craft: Eisenach, Ohrdruf, L?neburg, and Weimar (1685-1703)


• 1 - The Young Bach


• Eisenach ~ Ohrdruf ~ L?neburg ~ Weimar


• 2 - Study and Models


• Ohrdruf: Johann Christoph Bach and Thuringian Circles ~ L?neburg: Georg B?hm and North German Circles


• 3 - Initial Efforts


• Neumeister Chorales ~ Free Works


• Part II - The First Fruits: Arnstadt and M?hlhausen (1703-1708)


• 4 - Bach in Arnstadt and M?hlhausen


• Organist at the New Church ~ L?beck Pilgrimage ~ Organist at St. Blasius's Church


• 5 - Chorale-based Works


• Chorale Settings ~ Chorale Partitas


• 6 - Free Works


• Multi-sectional Praeludia ~ Prelude-Fugue Pairs ~ Independent Fugues ~ Unica


• Part III - The Golden Years: Weimar (1708-1717)


• 7 - Bach in Weimar


• Organist and Chamber Musician at the Weimar Court ~ Chapel Organ and Other Instruments ~ New Connections, New Influences ~ Eclectic Blends and Hybrid Forms


• 8 - The Orgel-B?chlein


• Compositional History ~ Function in Weimar ~ Musical Style: Melody Chorales, Canonic Chorales, Florid-Melody Chorales, Unique Settings


• 9 - Concerto Transcriptions


• Incomparable Things ~ Challenges of Transcription Process ~ The Music: Vivaldi Transcriptions, Johann Ernst Transcriptions ~ Bach versus Vivaldi


• 10 - Large Chorale Settings


• Fore-Imitation Settings ~ Florid-Melody Settings ~ Chorale Trios ~ Cantus Firmus Settings ~ Eclectic Blends ~ Sei gegr??et, Jesu g?tig


• 11 - Small Chorale Settings


• Miscellaneous Manual Works ~ Chorale Fughettas ~ Congregational Accompaniment: Figured-Bass and Interlude Settings


• 12 - Free Works: Prelude-Fugue Pairs


• Prelude and Fugue Ideal ~ Modification of North German and French Idioms ~ Adoption of Italian Concerto Principles


• 13 - Free Works: Independent Fugues and Singular Pieces


• Independent Fugues ~ Experimental Forms ~ The Great Passacaglia


• Part IV - The Organist as Capellmeister: C?then (1717-1723)


• 14 - Bach in C?then


• Capellmeister at the C?then Court ~ Repertory ~ New Stylistic Developments ~ Organ Inspections and Performances


• 15 - Organ Teacher, Consultant, and Recitalist


• Didactic Works ~ Organ Pedagogue ~ Organ Examiner and Consultant ~ Organ Recitalist


• 16 - Bach's Art of Registration


• The German Tradition ~ Full Organ ~ All the Remaining Diverse Variations ~ Hymn Accompaniment ~ Particular Stops and Combinations


• Part V - The Grand Synthesis: Leipzig (1723-1750)


• 17 - Bach in Leipzig


• St. Thomas Cantor and Director of Music ~ Fusion of Styles ~ New Role of Revision and Recycling ~ Central German Organ


• 18 - Cantata and Passion Movements with Obbligato Organ and Miscellaneous Trios


• Obbligato Organ Repertory ~ Performance Considerations ~ Musical Style ~ Trio Transcriptions and Compositions ~ Function of the Pieces ~ Stylistic Aspects


• 19 - Six Sonatas


• The Genesis of the Collection ~ Pedagogical Use ~ Musical Style ~ Performance Issues ~ Postscript


• 20 - Free Works: Prelude and Fugues


• An Unorthodox Transcription ~ Four Monumental...

  Biographie:
  George B. Stauffer is Distinguished Professor of Music History and Dean Emeritus of the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He is well known for his writings on the music and culture of the Baroque Era and the life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach, in particular. He has written or edited eight books, including Bach: The Mass in B Minor and The World of Baroque Music, and he has contributed numerous articles to American, European, and Asian journals. He has also written pieces for The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, and The Weekly Standard. Stauffer has held Guggenheim, Fulbright, ACLS, IREX, and Bogliasco fellowships, and he is a frequent speaker at Bach festivals, concert halls, and universities in the United States and abroad. A past President of the American Bach Society, Stauffer is General Editor of the Leupold Edition of The Complete Organ Works of Johann Sebastian Bach.
  
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  Sommaire:
  In the obituary that appeared soon after his death, Johann Sebastian Bach was described as the world-famous organist and the greatest organist...we have ever had. In Hamburg, Dresden, and other big cities, Bach dazzled audiences with his organ playing, performing passages with his feet that many thought impossible for the hands. One eyewitness declared that he had never seen anything like it. His extant organ works--more than 250 chorale settings and free pieces--are filled with bold, dramatic passages and fully independent pedal parts. They represent the most important body of music in the organ repertoire and the only genre that Bach turned to continuously throughout his life, from his earliest efforts as a teenager in Ohrdruf to his final deathbed revisions as a cantor in Leipzig.
  
  In this new survey, leading musicologist George B. Stauffer traces the evolution of Bach's organ works within the broad spectrum of his development as a composer. With detailed discussions of the individual pieces, the book shows how Bach initially drew on contemporary models from Germany and France before evolving a personal idiom based on the concertos of Antonio Vivaldi. In Leipzig, he went still further, synthesizing national and historical styles to produce cosmopolitan masterpieces that exude sophistication and elegance. Serving as a backdrop to this growth was the emergence of the Central German pre-Romantic organ, which inspired Bach to write pieces with unique chamber-music, choral, and orchestral qualities. Stauffer follows these developments step-by-step, showing how Bach's unending quest for novelty, innovation, and refinement resulted in organ works that continue to reward and awe listeners today....