Book Description
Peter Wiliams approaches afresh the life and music of arguably the most studied of all composers, interpreting both Bach’s life by deconstructing his original Obituary in the light of new information, and his music by evaluating his priorities and irrepressible creative energy. How, though belonging to musical families on both his parents’ sides, did he come to possess so bewitching a sense of rhythm and melody, and a mastery of harmony that established nothing less than a norm in western culture? In considering that the works of a composer are his biography, the book's title 'A Life in Music' means both a life spent making music and one revealed in the music as we know it. A distinguished scholar and performer, Williams re-examines Bach’s life as an orphan and a family man, as an extraordinarily gifted composer and player, and an energetic and ambitious artist who never suffered fools gladly.
Review
"Peter Williams is a master of putting question marks where they belong. He is wise enough to admit that definite answers are rarely possible. Nevertheless, guided by the 1754 Obituary, he gives splendid food for thought with his penetrating insights and truly erudite suggestions." --Gustav Leonhardt
"Williams has created a well-rounded portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach that leavens erudition with entertaining turns of phrase.[...]Highly recommended for academic and music collections and for public libraries with a knowledgeable clientele." -- Library Journal

Many listeners and players are fascinated by Bach's Goldberg Variations. In this wideranging and searching study, Professor Williams, one of the leading Bach scholars of our time, helps them probe its depths and understand its uniqueness. He considers the work's historical origins, especially in relation to all Bach's Clavierubung volumes and late keyboard works, its musical agenda and its formal shape, and discusses significant performance issues. In the course of the book he poses a number of key questions. Why should such a work be written? Does the work have both a conceptual and a perceptual shape? What other music is likely to have influenced the Goldberg and to what extent is it trying to be encyclopedic? What is the canonic vocabulary? How have contemporaries or musicians from Beethoven to the present day seen this work and, above all, how has its mysterious beauty been created?

This book gives an account of the individual works of one of the greatest composers. The first volume of a two-volume study of the music of J. S. Bach covers the earlier part of his composing career, 1695-1717. By studying the music chronologically a coherent picture of the composer's creative development emerges, drawing together all the strands of the individual repertoires (e.g. the cantatas, the organ music, the keyboard music). The volume is divided into two parts, covering the early works and the mature Weimar compositions respectively. Each part deals with four categories of composition in turn: large-scale keyboard works; preludes, fantasias, and fugues; organ chorales; and cantatas. Within each category, the discussion is prefaced by a list of the works to be considered, together with details of their original titles, catalogue numbers, and earliest sources. The study is thus usable as a handbook on Bach's works as well as a connected study of his creative development.As indicated by the subtitle Music to Delight the Spirit,, borrowed from Bach's own title-pages, Richard Jones draws attention to another important aspect of the book: not only is it a study of style and technique but a work of criticism, an analytical evaluation of Bach's music and an appreciation of its extraordinary qualities. It also takes account of the remarkable advances in Bach scholarship that have been made over the last 50 years, including the many studies that have appeared relating to various aspects of Bach's early music, such as the varied influences to which he was subjected and the problematic issues of dating and authenticity that arise. In doing so, it attempts to build up a coherent picture of his development as a creative artist, helping us to understand what distinguishes Bach's mature music from his early works and from the music of his predecessors and contemporaries. Hence we learn why it is that his later works are instantly recognizable as 'Bachian'.

出版《李斯特》的罗沃尔特出版社是德国历史悠久的出版社之一，成立于上世纪初，它随着德国百年来的政治沧桑，几起几落，但始终以求新扶新为己任，在推动德国文化创新上有着值得自豪的传统和声誉。“罗沃尔特音乐家传记丛书”是罗沃尔特出版社推出的“罗沃尔特名人传记丛书”的一部分。近年来我国爱好西方古典音乐的人，特别在青年中，愈来愈多了，这是一个令人鼓舞的现象。就在当前出现的古典音乐普及规模愈来愈大的喜人形势下，人民音乐出版社选择了德国汉堡罗沃尔特出版社（Rowohlt-Verlag）出版的“罗沃尔特音乐家传记丛书”数十种翻译出来，目的是供我国包括发烧友在内的广大音乐爱好者、音乐从业人员（教师、演出工作者）等从事音乐欣赏、学习、研究和教学时的参考。

《李斯特论柏辽兹与舒曼》作者是匈牙利作曲家、钢琴家、指挥家和音乐活动家，浪漫主义音乐的主要代表人物之一。

《巴赫演奏指南:对历史、结构及演奏的根本研究(重译本)》由人民音乐出版社出版。