Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale settings have been vital to the teaching of music ever since they were composed. His four-voiced harmonisations represent a Baroque composer's approach to melodies that are often centuries older. As musical styles continued to evolve, each succeeding generation of teachers and students brought their own viewpoint to bear on this small corpus of music. Consequently, during the three centuries since their composition and a quarter of a millennium since their first publication, a range of contrasting ideas and approaches has tended to obscure the fundamental nature of these short yet intricate musical works.
This volume of Resources presents a comprehensive selection of individual phrases and whole chorales in Bach's harmonisations, together with some alternative settings for comparison. They have been sorted into five principal types and arranged in an increasing order of complexity. Every phrase has been meticulously checked for accuracy against its original version in the cantatas and Passions. This collection complements any course on chorale harmonisation - in particular, it provides authentic solutions to the exercises set in the accompanying Workbook.

About the Author
Christopher Mabley is a teacher, conductor, composer, arranger, performer, writer and examiner. He studied Music at the University of Cambridge, and subsequently took a Master's degree in the Theory and Analysis of Music at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has taught Bach's chorale harmony to students of all abilities since 1984. Inspired at the turn of the millennium to make his own investigations into the musical language of Bach's fourvoiced chorale harmonisations, fourteen years later he completed this Course, marking the tercentenary of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Just as Emanuel had been concerned to ensure the accuracy of the original publications of this music, so Christopher has been concerned to ensure that the manner of their harmonisation is understood on its own terms rather than from opposing perspectives. Students over many generations have benefited from his evolving ideas, and this Course represents the culmination of his research; its publication marks 250 years since Bach's four-voiced chorale harmonisations first appeared in print in 1765.


Book Information
ISBN 9781910864517
Author Christopher Mabley
Format Paperback
Page Count 104
Imprint The Choir Press
Publisher The Choir Press
Weight(grams) 358g
Dimensions(mm) 297mm * 210mm * 7mm