Johann Sebastian Bach
The Learned Musician
21 April 2026
Territory Rights — Worldwide including Canada, but excluding the British Commonwealth.
Description
Finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in Biography, this landmark book has been updated and expanded with recent scholarship.
Although we have heard the music of J. S. Bach in countless performances and recordings, the composer himself still comes across only as an enigmatic figure in a single familiar portrait. In this award-winning biography, author Christoph Wolff presents a picture that brings to life this towering figure of the Baroque era, revealing Bach as the living, breathing, and sometimes imperfect human being that he was, while bringing to bear all the advances of the last half-century of Bach scholarship. Wolff demonstrates the intimate connection between the composer's life and his music, showing how Bach's superb inventiveness pervaded his career as musician, composer, performer, scholar, and teacher. And throughout, we see Bach in the broader context of his time: its institutions, traditions, and influences.
Reviews
"A magisterial biographical portrait...necessarily learned, but also user–friendly, helpful and entertainingly informative." — Chicago Tribune
Also By: Christoph Wolff 
Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work
Hardback, 2020
A comprehensive and fascinating study of the overall creative output of Johann Sebastian Bach, capturing the essence of his art.
Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work
E Book, 2020
A comprehensive and fascinating study of the overall creative output of Johann Sebastian Bach, capturing the essence of his art.
Mozart at the Gateway to His Fortune: Serving the Emperor, 1788–1791
Hardback, 2012
ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award winner
A fresh look at the life of Mozart during his imperial years by one of the world's leading Mozart scholars.
Mozart at the Gateway to His Fortune: Serving the Emperor, 1788–1791
E Book, 2012
ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award winner
A fresh look at the life of Mozart during his imperial years by one of the world's leading Mozart scholars.
The New Bach Reader
Revised And Expanded, Paperback, 1999
"Just reading these documents brings this great composer to life in a most exciting and vivid way. I love this book!" —Yo-Yo Ma