The Bach reader : a life of Johann Sebastian Bach in letters and documents

Preface to the first edition

Preface to the revised edition

Section 1. Johann Sebastian Bach: a portrait in outline. Background, career, and personality ; Heritage and achievement ; Attitude toward the art of music

Section 2. Bach's life in his own writings and other evidence. Eisenach (1685-1695) ; Ohrdruf (1695-1700) ; Lüneburg (1700-1703) ; Arnstadt (1703-1707) ; Mühlhausen (1707-1708) ; Weimar (1708-1717) ; Cöthen (1717-1723) ; Leipzig (1723-1750)

Section 3. Genealogy of the Bach family / by J.S. Bach (1735), with later additions by C.P.E. Bach and others

Section 4. Obituary of Bach / by C.P.E. Bach and J.F. Agricola (1754)

Section 5. Bach as seen by his contemporaries. Poem in praise of Bach ; Reports and reviews written during Bach's lifetime ; Criticism and defense: a controversy ; Accounts and critical estimates written after Bach's death ; The "art of the fugue" ; The four-part chorales ; Letters from C.P.E. Bach to Forkel ; Bach and Handel, a comparison / by C.P.E. Bach ; Anecdotes

Section 6. On Johann Sebastian Bach's life, genius, and works / by J.N. Forkel (1802), translated by A.C.F. Kollmann (1820). The Bach family ; Bach's life ; Bach the clavier player ; Bach the organist ; Bach's harmony ; Bach's melody ; Bach the teacher ; Bach's character ; Bach's works ; Bach the reviser of his own works ; The spirit of Bach

Section 7. The rediscovery of Bach. The story of his fame ; Mendelssohn's revival of the St. Matthew passion (1829)

Appendix. Bach on thorough-bass realization ; Solutions of Bach's Canons

Supplement (1965)