Book Review
Sep. 9th, 2017 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariJohann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician
by Christoph Wolff
This was one of the best and most enjoyable composer biographies I have ever read. It is extremely detailed, but Wolff makes the meticulous detail a source of richness rather than an exercise in either pedantry or tedium. Despite the lack of personal correspondence or other such information that history has preserved for us, Wolff also portrays Bach as living, breathing person rather than just an iconic figure, and furthermore, give the modern reader a very good sense of what an 18th century musician's life would be like. The coverage of Bach's development as a composer and musician, and of his professional struggles all were extremely interesting and enlightening. I have more appreciation not only for Bach and his music but also for the whole corpus of Baroque music making.
by Christoph Wolff
This was one of the best and most enjoyable composer biographies I have ever read. It is extremely detailed, but Wolff makes the meticulous detail a source of richness rather than an exercise in either pedantry or tedium. Despite the lack of personal correspondence or other such information that history has preserved for us, Wolff also portrays Bach as living, breathing person rather than just an iconic figure, and furthermore, give the modern reader a very good sense of what an 18th century musician's life would be like. The coverage of Bach's development as a composer and musician, and of his professional struggles all were extremely interesting and enlightening. I have more appreciation not only for Bach and his music but also for the whole corpus of Baroque music making.
