JohannSebastianBachhasloomedlargeintheimaginationofscholars,performers,andaudiencessincethelatenineteenthcentury.Thisnewbook,editedbyveteranBachscholarBettinaVarwig,gathersadiversegroupofleadingandemergingBachresearchersaswellasanumberofcontributorsfrombeyondthecoreofBachstudies.Thebook’sfourteenchaptersengageinactive’rethinking’ofdifferenttopicsconnectedwithBach;theiconicnamewhichbroadlyencompassesthehistoricalindividual,thesoundsandafterlivesofhismusic,aswellasallthatthosefourletterscametostandforinthelaterpopularandscholarlyimagination.Inturn,challengingthefundamentalassumptionsaboutthenineteenth-centuryBachrevival,theriseofthemodernworkconcept,Bach’smusicasacode,andabouteditionsofhismusicasmonuments.Collectively,thesecontributionsthustakeapart,scrutinize,dustoffandreassemblesomeofourmostcherishednarrativesanddeeplyheldbeliefsaboutBachandhismusic.Indoingso,theyopenmultiplepathwaystowardsexcitingfuturemodesofengagementwiththecomposerandhislegacy.
