Johann Sebastian Bach : the learned musician (2000; rev. ed. 2013)

Finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in Biography, this landmark book was revised in 2013 to include new knowledge discovered after its initial publication.

Although we have heard the music of J. S. Bach in countless
performances and recordings, the composer himself still comes across
only as an enigmatic figure in a single familiar portrait. As we mark
the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, author Christoph Wolff presents a
new picture that brings to life this towering figure of the Baroque
era. This engaging new biography portrays Bach as the living, breathing,
and sometimes imperfect human being that he was, while bringing to bear
all the advances of the last half-century of Bach scholarship. Wolff
demonstrates the intimate connection between the composer's life and his
music, showing how Bach's superb inventiveness pervaded his career as
musician, composer, performer, scholar, and teacher. And throughout, we
see Bach in the broader context of his time: its institutions,
traditions, and influences. With this highly readable book, Wolff sets a
new standard for Bach biography.

(42 black and white illustrations)

"A monumental work that must find its way into the library of
every musician and every dedicated lover of music."—Isaac Stern "It's
unlikely that anyone will fashion a finer tribute to [Bach's]
genius."—Los Angeles Times Book Review "A magisterial biographical
portrait...necessarily learned, but also user-friendly, helpful and
entertainingly informative."—Chicago Tribune "Likely to be the standard
one-volume Bach biography for some time to come."—New York Review of
Books "A work of clarity worthy of its subject and his music."—Wall
Street Journal "Undoubtedly the most important Bach biography since
Phillipp Spitta's life written over a century ago."—The New

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