Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Felix, director of the National Bach Archive in Leipzig and the author of studies of Liszt and Gluck, is not well known in the US. His text is divided into a biographical study and studies of the many genres employed by Bach. Bach scholars will find no new material here, but the scholarship and mode of presentation are up to date. The translation is fluid and idiomatic to the point that one would not presume the original to be in another language. The original publisher, VEB Deutscher Verlag in Leipzig, produced a beautifully planned and designed book and Norton was wise not to tamper. The 120 illustrations are either in color or well-produced sepia and the many sepia musical illustrations are attractive and easy to read. This is much more than a coffee-table book and it should find its place on the shelf of illustrated Bach books with the supplemental Bilddokumente volume of the Neue Bach Ausgabe and with Johann Sebastian Bach, ed. by Barbara Schwendowius and Wolfgang Domling (CH, Feb '85). Highly recommended for both public and academic libraries at all levels.-J.P. Ambrose, University of Vermont