The Significance of Bach

The State of Bach Interpretation Today

Within the continuing history of Bach's life's work, we are now at the eve of his 300th birthday. What is the response of Bach interpretation today to the challenge of presenting his music in a way that is suited to our age?

At this point we must consider a factor that has never, in the history of Bach's music since his death, been as favorable as it is today. The musicological efforts of the past decades have led to the present situation in which we possess absolutely superb critical editions of Bach's works, exemplified above all by the New Bach Edition, for which the Bach Institute of Göttingen and the Bach Archive of Leipzig are responsible. In addition, musicological research has been intensely and continuously concerned with the performance practice of the time in which Bach's works were created as well as with related fields of study. A wealth of information is thus available to us that earlier generations did not possess. On one hand, this situation simplifies decisions regarding the interpretative presentation of Bach's work. On the other hand, it narrows the latitude within which one can make such decisions, as it calls into question an approach to the music based purely on instinct and feeling.

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