Bach

Music in the Castle of Heaven

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Music, Music Styles, Classical & Opera, Classical, Biography & Memoir, Composers & Musicians
Cover of the book Bach by John Eliot Gardiner, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: John Eliot Gardiner ISBN: 9780385351980
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Publication: October 29, 2013
Imprint: Vintage Language: English
Author: John Eliot Gardiner
ISBN: 9780385351980
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication: October 29, 2013
Imprint: Vintage
Language: English

Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most unfathomable composers in the history of music. How can such sublime work have been produced by a man who (when we can discern his personality at all) seems so ordinary, so opaque—and occasionally so intemperate?

John Eliot Gardiner grew up passing one of the only two authentic portraits of Bach every morning and evening on the stairs of his parents’ house, where it hung for safety during World War II. He has been studying and performing Bach ever since, and is now regarded as one of the composer’s greatest living interpreters. The fruits of this lifetime’s immersion are distilled in this remarkable book, grounded in the most recent Bach scholarship but moving far beyond it, and explaining in wonderful detail the ideas on which Bach drew, how he worked, how his music is constructed, how it achieves its effects—and what it can tell us about Bach the man.

Gardiner’s background as a historian has encouraged him to search for ways in which scholarship and performance can cooperate and fruitfully coalesce. This has entailed piecing together the few biographical shards, scrutinizing the music, and watching for those instances when Bach’s personality seems to penetrate the fabric of his notation. Gardiner’s aim is “to give the reader a sense of inhabiting the same experiences and sensations that Bach might have had in the act of music-making. This, I try to show, can help us arrive at a more human likeness discernible in the closely related processes of composing and performing his music.”

It is very rare that such an accomplished performer of music should also be a considerable writer and thinker about it. John Eliot Gardiner takes us as deeply into Bach’s works and mind as perhaps words can. The result is a unique book about one of the greatest of all creative artists.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most unfathomable composers in the history of music. How can such sublime work have been produced by a man who (when we can discern his personality at all) seems so ordinary, so opaque—and occasionally so intemperate?

John Eliot Gardiner grew up passing one of the only two authentic portraits of Bach every morning and evening on the stairs of his parents’ house, where it hung for safety during World War II. He has been studying and performing Bach ever since, and is now regarded as one of the composer’s greatest living interpreters. The fruits of this lifetime’s immersion are distilled in this remarkable book, grounded in the most recent Bach scholarship but moving far beyond it, and explaining in wonderful detail the ideas on which Bach drew, how he worked, how his music is constructed, how it achieves its effects—and what it can tell us about Bach the man.

Gardiner’s background as a historian has encouraged him to search for ways in which scholarship and performance can cooperate and fruitfully coalesce. This has entailed piecing together the few biographical shards, scrutinizing the music, and watching for those instances when Bach’s personality seems to penetrate the fabric of his notation. Gardiner’s aim is “to give the reader a sense of inhabiting the same experiences and sensations that Bach might have had in the act of music-making. This, I try to show, can help us arrive at a more human likeness discernible in the closely related processes of composing and performing his music.”

It is very rare that such an accomplished performer of music should also be a considerable writer and thinker about it. John Eliot Gardiner takes us as deeply into Bach’s works and mind as perhaps words can. The result is a unique book about one of the greatest of all creative artists.

More books from Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Cover of the book Testimony and Demeanor by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book The Brother Gardeners by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book Madeleine's War by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book Apostle by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book Lion of Jordan by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book The Promise by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book From Oslo to Iraq and the Road Map by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book The Jewels of the Cabots by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book Beer in the Snooker Club by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book Lost in the Funhouse by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book Absalom, Absalom! by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book Duel de lenguaje/Language Duel by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book Please Look After Mom by John Eliot Gardiner
Cover of the book Eating by John Eliot Gardiner
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy