The World of the Bach Cantatas: Early Sacred Cantatas (Set)

Rating:
Summary: An inconvenient essential
Review: This book is a must for lovers of the cantatas, but I hope it's not whining to say that we deserve much better. The subjects of the various essays, by various scholars, are all exactly the ones I have been hoping for--most notably the chapters "Bible, hymnbook and worship service" by M. Petzoldt, and "Choruses and Chorales" by D. Melamed, but the book as a whole reads very much like a conference proceedings volume rather than an introduction to the "world of the cantatas." Some individual chapters are excellently written (esp. C. Wolff's, but that should go without saying), but many are at the very least poorly translated. What we really need is A. Duerr's magisterial introduction (available at fairly low cost from amazon.de, for the reader of German) in English translation (though I would hope not by those who translated this volume!).

Rating:
Summary: a must for all lovers of bach cantatas
Review: this clear account of the early cantatas is a must for all lovers of Bach and his choral music. Written by acknowledged authorities in the field, this book complements Koopmans on going CD cycle of the cantatas but can be used with great benefit with other cycles as well. If you love the cantatas this is a must have book