The Life of Bach

Peter Williams (1937–2016) was an internationally renowned Bach scholar and performer. He held the first Chair in Performance Practice in Britain at the University of Edinburgh, where he was Director of the Russell Collection of Harpsichords and latterly Dean of Music. He was also the first Arts and Sciences Distinguished Chair at Duke University, North Carolina. He was the author of many books, including A New History of the Organ (1980), The Organ Music of J. S. Bach (3 volumes, Cambridge, 1981–1984), Bach, Handel, Scarlatti 1685–1985 (Cambridge, 1985) and Bach: The Goldberg Variations (Cambridge, 2001).

'Williams is thoroughly honest, and honestly thorough, in sifting through the facts, assessing their robustness, and setting them in the context … of Bach's actual music, and equally important, the traditions and philosophies of eighteenth-century Lutheran Germany - warts and all … In its rationality and calm authority, Williams' biography lays to rest much of the confusion relating to the pieces in one of musical history's most frustrating incomplete jigsaws.' The Scotsman

• Introduction; 1. Early years 1685–1703; 2. First appointments 1703–8; 3. Weimar 1708–17; 4. Cöthen 1717–23; 5. Leipzig, the first decade; 6. Leipzig, the second decade; 7. Leipzig, the final years and the first personal descriptions; Appendix 1. A sample hypothesis; Appendix 2. Some terms; References; BWV Index; Name index.