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J.S. Bach, Vol 2
Independent of his international renown as a humanitarian, Albert Schweitzer is well known as a great musicologist; a reputation that rests largely upon this book. Schweitzer's J. S. Bach is one of the great full-length studies of the composer, his life, and his work. Its influence on the subsequent performance of Bach's music was enormous, and there is scarcely a later work on Bach which does not acknowledge a deep debt to Schweitzer's. Grove's Dictionary says of the book, "Schweitzer has probably been more quoted than any authority since Spitta."
The first volume contains a virtual history of Protestant church music, examining the role of music in the early Protestant services of many European countries. Frequent allusions to the parallel development of art and poetry, to the leading philosophic and religious concepts of the time, and to events of contemporary history supplement and enrich the text. Narrowing the study to Germany, Schweitzer traces to their roots the forms used by Bach (with particular emphasis on the German chorale and the forms built around it), and assess the contributions of Schütz, Sheidt, Buxtehude, Pachelbel, and others of Bach's predecessors. The volume includes a full account of Bach's life, and discusses his works for organ, clavier, strings, and orchestra. Suggestions for performance include sections on bowing, on playing chords and double stops, and on the practice of ornamentation in Bach's time.
Volume Two is concerned with Bach's choral music — the chorales, cantatas, the Magnificat, the St. Matthew and St. John Passions, the motets, songs, oratorios, and masses. The illuminating analysis of these works, illustrated by hundreds of musical examples, is dominated by Schweitzer's highly original theories regarding Bach's pictorial representation of the text in the music, and the expressive motives Schweitzer has found and identified throughout Bach's compositions. A long concluding chapter makes recommendations for performance on tempo, phrasing, accentuation, dynamics, and on the size and arrangement of the orchestra and choir.
Schweitzer's J. S. Bach is among the definitive reference works on Bach and is high on the list of required reading for music students. Yet it is not a difficult or formidable work. It offers a stimulating, well-written narrative, with much in it to interest the music lover as well as the scholar.
The first volume contains a virtual history of Protestant church music, examining the role of music in the early Protestant services of many European countries. Frequent allusions to the parallel development of art and poetry, to the leading philosophic and religious concepts of the time, and to events of contemporary history supplement and enrich the text. Narrowing the study to Germany, Schweitzer traces to their roots the forms used by Bach (with particular emphasis on the German chorale and the forms built around it), and assess the contributions of Schütz, Sheidt, Buxtehude, Pachelbel, and others of Bach's predecessors. The volume includes a full account of Bach's life, and discusses his works for organ, clavier, strings, and orchestra. Suggestions for performance include sections on bowing, on playing chords and double stops, and on the practice of ornamentation in Bach's time.
Volume Two is concerned with Bach's choral music — the chorales, cantatas, the Magnificat, the St. Matthew and St. John Passions, the motets, songs, oratorios, and masses. The illuminating analysis of these works, illustrated by hundreds of musical examples, is dominated by Schweitzer's highly original theories regarding Bach's pictorial representation of the text in the music, and the expressive motives Schweitzer has found and identified throughout Bach's compositions. A long concluding chapter makes recommendations for performance on tempo, phrasing, accentuation, dynamics, and on the size and arrangement of the orchestra and choir.
Schweitzer's J. S. Bach is among the definitive reference works on Bach and is high on the list of required reading for music students. Yet it is not a difficult or formidable work. It offers a stimulating, well-written narrative, with much in it to interest the music lover as well as the scholar.
512 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 1967
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About the author
Albert Schweitzer
506 books352 followersAlbert Schweitzer, M.D., OM, was an Alsatian theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician. He was born in Kaisersberg in Alsace-Lorraine, a Germanophone region which the German Empire returned to France after World War I. Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of historical Jesus current at his time and the traditional Christian view, depicting a Jesus who expected the imminent end of the world. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for his philosophy of "reverence for life", expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Lambaréné Hospital in Gabon, west central Africa.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 2, 2021
This second volume of Albert Schweitzer's work on Johann Sebastian Bach deals primarily with his choral works. There is an early chapter where Schweitzer illustrates a number of common motifs that Bach uses to indicate certain emotions or situations (joy, sorrow, power, calm, etc.). This chapter is worth its weight in gold, and has relevance not only to Bach's vocal music but also to his instrumental works.
The rest of the book goes painstakingly through all of the surviving cantatas, passions, masses, etc. Here I found the book less compelling. Schweitzer is full of practical advice to performers of the day on which works are easier or harder, or how the organist should balance with the choir and orchestra. His comments would be worth consulting for anyone preparing one of these pieces, but many of his points are now quite dated. Modern singers and instrumentalists are much more familiar with baroque performance practice today than at the turn of the twentieth century when Schweitzer was writing.
I imagine I will be returning to the chapter on Bach's musical language often in the future, so for that reason alone this book is essential. But it is perhaps not necessary for a reader to slog through the whole thing as I did.
The rest of the book goes painstakingly through all of the surviving cantatas, passions, masses, etc. Here I found the book less compelling. Schweitzer is full of practical advice to performers of the day on which works are easier or harder, or how the organist should balance with the choir and orchestra. His comments would be worth consulting for anyone preparing one of these pieces, but many of his points are now quite dated. Modern singers and instrumentalists are much more familiar with baroque performance practice today than at the turn of the twentieth century when Schweitzer was writing.
I imagine I will be returning to the chapter on Bach's musical language often in the future, so for that reason alone this book is essential. But it is perhaps not necessary for a reader to slog through the whole thing as I did.
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September 5, 2024Quite odd… I've no idea how it was received at the time but I found Schweitzer's argument that Bach was a tone-painter, that, effectively, he had a series of his own leitmotifs etc, very unconvincing, especially as the numerous substitutions and self-borrowings that Bach indulged in are just hand-waved away as "oh he was distracted that day" or whatever.
But at the same time the depth of knowledge is pretty spectacular, I learned a lot.
But at the same time the depth of knowledge is pretty spectacular, I learned a lot.
May 15, 2007
sshhh this is funny: i stole this book from a family friend who used to work with albert schweitzer in africa. schweitzer probably GAVE this woman the copy i stole. i'm sorry but she's going blind and she can't even read anymore anyway. it's um, a dense and rocky read, but full of informative gems you could never find anywhere else.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews