In the last decade of the 19th century, European culture was perceived as increasingly decadent and degenerate. Visual art had abandoned representation and liberated color and line; literature weakened the narrative structures and loosened meanings, and music used a technically

Johann Sebastian Bach was a ferocious musical cannibal! He habitually borrowed from himself and others in order to adapt a composition to a particular performing venue or occasion. In 1729 he was appointed director of the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig.

The art of the transcription has been with us for centuries, coming into play whenever someone tried to play a work written for one instrument on another. We were listening, the other day, to a recording of J.S. Bach transcribed

When people see the name Anton Webern on a concert bill, they habitually run for cover! But Webern would not be Webern if he hadn’t studied the old masters during his student years at Vienna University. In fact, he studied

Johann Sebastian Bach started his work on The Art of the Fugue, one of the most celebrated and extensively studied collection of contrapuntal movements, in 1743. At the time of his death, on 28 July 1750, the collection remained unfinished

Köthener Trauermusik BWV 244a XII. Mit Freuden sei die Welt verlassen (Aria) From J. S. Bach: Kothener Trauermusik BWV 244a / Pygmalion / Raphael Pichon (2014) Released by Harmonia Mundi J.S. Bach: Köthener Trauermusik BWV 244a – XII. Mit Freuden

Throughout his long and industrious musical career, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) never strayed far away from home. Content to live and work in his native community, and possibly remembering that he was once thrown in jail for overstaying his leave

Without a doubt the six J.S. Bach Solo Cello Suites are a pinnacle to be reached for any cellist. Although I’ve performed them many times, there is one occasion that stands out more than any other. My father was also