The Music of J. S. Bach

This volume brings together nine scholars to examine the technical construction and historical performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s instrumental music. The contributors analyze specific orchestral compositions, including the Brandenburg Concertos and various keyboard works, through the lenses of music theory and organology. Concrete chapters investigate the mechanical properties of eighteenth-century flutes and harpsichords to explain how period instruments shaped Bach’s compositional choices. Other sections detail the pedagogical use of fugue within Bach’s immediate circle and the application of classical rhetoric to his contrapuntal structures.

Musicologists and period-instrument performers read this collection to bridge the gap between archival research and practical execution. The text provides specific data on baroque instrument construction and historical tuning systems that inform modern performance decisions. Readers walk away with a precise understanding of the relationship between Bach’s formal fugal techniques and the specific physical limitations of the instruments for which he wrote. It serves as a resource for those seeking to ground their interpretation of Bach’s concertos in historical music theory and organological fact.

Deep and outward-looking; a demanding read.

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