J.S. Bach, Volume 1

MP3 Audio CD. TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD.

Within the last few years Bach research has made a notable advance. Among the books that have contributed to this progress, that of Dr, Albert Schweitzer takes a leading place. It is equally valuable on the xsthetic and the practical sides; its convincing demonstration of the pictorial bent of Bach's mind must necessarily lead to a reconsideration not only of the older view of Bach as a mainly "abstract" musician, but of the aesthetics of music in general; while the chapters on the right manner of per- forming Bach's works throw many a new light on this obscure subject. Most of all are correct ideas on this latter point invaluable now, when Bach is beginning, as one hopes, to win his due popularity among not only musicians but music lovers as a whole.

The present translation has been made from the German version of Dr, Schweitzer's book (1908), which is itself a greatly expanded version of a French original published in 1905, The text, however, has been largely altered and added to at Dr. Schweitzer's request. The English edition is thus fuller and more correct even than the German.

Like most other translators I have found it convenient - and indeed necessary to preserve the word "clavier" to cover all the seventeenth and eighteenth century instru- ments the harpsichord, clavichord, clavicembalo, &c* of the type now represented by the pianoforte.