His choices cut across normal boundaries and were facilitated by Bach’s own organisation of his compositions in carefully designed collections, manuscript fair copies and publications.įollowing a prologue in which he posits Bach’s polyphonic genius as the essence of his creative art, Wolff focuses on the two-page catalogue of Bach’s works, centrally positioned in the composer’s obituary (Leipzig, 1750). He concentrates on ‘distinct overarching designs’ that he regards as ‘discernible planets within the great firmament of Bach’s music’, hence the book’s cosmic title. Acknowledging the impossibility of making an adequate critical survey of Bach’s entire output in a midsize volume, Wolff discusses only selected works. This book, designed to complement Wolff’s biographical Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician (2000) is no conventional composer/work study. Bach’s Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work
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