Review
Youngren's book is a major step forward in bringing Bach's songs out of the shadows. Not only is this the first comprehensive study of this vital repertory to appear since 1957, but it is the only work to analyse the poetry in depth alongside the music (and in this respect it sets a high standard for scholarship on song of all periods and nationalities). It is voluminous and encyclopedic, providing a detailed account of all of C.P.E. Bach's song collections as well as his individual songs and reading them against contemporary aesthetic and music-theoretical thought; in so doing, it assesses Bach's compositional choices and artistic decisions, as well as his position among the many North German composers who contributed to the great flowering of the lied in the second part of the eighteenth century....it is an extraordinary achievement. Any reader interested in C.P.E. Bach, the eighteenth century lied or indeed music and literary culture more generally in eighteenth-century North Germany will learn a good deal from it. Youngren's book goes a long way towards restoring Bach's work to its central position in the history of eighteenth-century song. (
Eighteenth-Century Music )
In a great intermingling of history and historiography, Youngren introduces readers to an unknown repertory with numerous examples of music and extended critical commentary. Essential. All serious music collections serving upper-division undergaduates and above. (
Choice )
Product Description
C.P.E. Bach and the Rebirth of the Strophic Song brings to light the overlooked fact that C.P.E. Bach wrote a great many songs, most of which are as under appreciated as they are exemplary. C.P.E. Bach has quite recently become a popular composer on FM 'concert' stations, but his songs are still neglected.
C.P.E. Bach is not usually thought of as a composer of songs, yet he was the most distinguished creator of the modern German language solo song during the last two-thirds of the eighteenth century. In all, he wrote close to 300 songs. Because he was an endlessly experimental composer, they range from ordinary strophic songs and simple chorales to long, cantata-like pieces of a couple hundred bars. The book focuses on two topics: Bach's musical background and a detailed examination of his songs.
That C.P.E. Bach was famous as a vocal composer is proven by the fact that all but a handful of his songs had been published by the time of his death in 1788. All interested listeners, from amateurs to professional musicologists and singers, will benefit from the insight captured by this book.
