This compact, useful book is handsomely prepared and fortified with multitudinous prints of all sorts. There is a wealth of distilled information about the master's life and music.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was the father of modern music, a supreme craftsman able to bridge the gap between the music of the Renaissance and the glories of Mozart, Hayden, and Beethoven. Bach expert Martin Geck shows us Bach in his time, offering a portrait of the personal, political and social circumstances that shaped some of the greatest music ever written. It analyses Bach's musical achievement and considers why music such as the "Brandenburg Concertos" and the "St. Matthew Passion" continues to hold its appeal centuries later.