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This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the life and music of J.S. Bach. Not only are there translations of every known piece of writing by him, and every important document about him, but many of his contemporaries and those in the following generation are quoted on their views of Bach's stature and achievement. There is also the complete text of the first biography of Bach, written in 1802 by J.N. Forkel and drawing on information from Bach's sons Friedemann and Emanuel. This book has so much valuable and fascinating information in such a small compass that music lovers will be drawn to it again and again

For those familiar with the "Oxford Companion to ..." series, you will see that this lives up to the name. There is a lot of good information on his works and life here. I only give it 4 stars because it works better as a reference-type book to scroll through once in a while, and not quality literature to read in a few sittings.

The life of Johann Sebastian Bach - straddling two centuries and placing an indelible mark on the development of symphonic music - is a complex and multifaceted saga, but Professor John Butt and his talented crew of co-authors get straight to the bottom of it. Bach grew up at the tail end of the 16th century. As a young student at the Latin Grammar School (where Martin Luther himself once studied) he was a classic child prodigy, dismissed by jealous teachers as excessively cheeky, and simultaneously made the butt of cruel jokes concocted by the lesser students who were deeply behind him. To make things far worse, both of his parents died when he was only nine, and for a period he was reduced to selling buns in the street and living in an abandoned caboose. However opportunity opened the door just a crack when he was a late teen. This came when he moved to the small town of Arnstadt to try his hand as an organist - a fateful journey during which illness and hunger almost took him, until a kindly cattle-farming family nursed him back to health on a hearty diet of potatoes, rump roast, and healthy dairy air. At Arnstadt he wrote most of his best-loved early pieces, and while he toiled in seeming anonymity at the rear of the church, the congregation was truly over the moon about him, often straining to hear his gentle melodies over the odious sound of the preacher muttering darkly about Sodom and Gomorrah. At the time the town was a real hole, but Bach's uplifting passion for music rectified the situation for him and kept him from going under. Soon many of his most famous baroque pieces were in the can. Bach's longest residence was of course in the city of Leipzig from 1723 to 1750, where he progressed from early middle age until his doddering later years as an old duffer. It was in Leipzig that his met his longtime Welsh companion, Fanny W. Tokus, who was to so ease his journey into the ranks of the elderly. Professor Butt's thoughtful scholarship made this book a real gas to read, and it's uplifting to think that someone so handicapped by his very nom de plume could persuade such an erudite and impressive group of credentialed co-writers to hitch their wagons to his tailpipe.

This is a pretty good book for fiddling around with, but I wish it had more markings like dynamics and accents.

Dover Publications are very good. Lots of room for notes. : ) Excellent price.

I bought this for use with Freehand Graphics Studio 7, especially Freehand and Fontographer. I soon discovered it's based on an earlier version of FHGS, version 5 (I think).

This book appears to cover Freehand Version 5, not 7, but it does cover Fontographer version 4.1. I cannot say which versions of Xres or E3D it covers, I did not use these programs or the book for them. The downside of it covering FH5 (not FH7 or FH8) can be overcome by many other Freehand books; there are very few for Fontographer, no other 3rd party books that I'm aware of. Even so, there is much useful content for Freehand.

The book is great, it's full of graphics and helpful hints, and the CD is full of helpful hints and Xtras. Well delivered, short helpful examples.

If it were for FH7, I'd give it 5 stars.

This book is a must have for any serious graphic artist/freehand user. It covers everything I wanted to know about the Freehand Graphic Studio Suite. Before this book I did not understand the full range of solutions this bundle could be used for

This book is classic Lloyd Alexander -- funny, romantic, complicated and well-written, with likeable heroes and a fresh plotline. A lot of the stuff in it is in the mold of other books like the Prydain Chronicles and "Arkadians," but it never feels stale at all.

In the country of Hamelin-Loring, Sebastian is the fourth fiddler in the Baron's orchestra, and a mistake costs him his job and sends him wandering with nothing but his fiddle. He loses the fiddle to a gang of thugs, and gains a pet cat called Presto. When he tries to steal food he is rescued from death by a pleasant stranger called Nicholas, who takes Sebastian under his wing.

But they end up rescuing a girl dressed as a boy, who happens to be the Princess Isabel, who has run away from her castle so that she will not have to marry the Regent. To save themselves they will have to dodge the Regent's ruthless spies and soldiers, the disgruntled citizens of Hamelin-Loring, and possibly the mysterious rebel Captain -- with a ragtag circus troupe, a cursed violin, and a very smart cat as their allies.

"Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian" is a charming, delightful story that shows Alexander at his best, with the exception of the Prydain Chronicles. Alexander keeps a good pace and storyline going while also including a few subtle lessons about pride, love, kindness, and a few things about music. (He himself plays the violin) He throws in a few twisting plot developments that will keep you guessing about the seemingly cursed violin, which plays for Sebastian as it did for no one else, and the mysterious Captain, whose identity is kept a secret for most of the book. His writing style is brisk and fast, with a lot of funny dialogue (especially Isabel's very verbose sentences) and charming characters (the various circus performers).

Sebastian is the nice-guy hero that Alexander does so well, while Isabel is a bit different from his other heroines, in that she has a major lesson to learn -- originally she's a bit snobby, naive and full of herself rather than full of common-sense. Nicholas is harder to pin down, since many of his actions really don't make sense at first; Presto is delightfully three-dimensional considering that he is a cat who never talks.

"Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian" lives up to its title, and readers will definitely enjoy it. Especially if they play the violin.

The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian by Lloyd Alexander is a wonderful book by possibly the greatest children's author. This book has so much in it. It has a lot of adventure, romance, fantasy, humor, commentary on the human condition, and is even an allegory about the power of beauty on a persons life. It reminds the reader of classics like Anthony Hope's A Prisoner of Zenda and Raphael Sabatini's Sabatini (readers should also read all of Alexander's other novels). The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian certainly deserved its National Book Award and deserves to be regarded as a classic.

The story is really marvelous. It is about Sebastian who is an Eighteenth-Century fiddler in the imaginary kingdom of Hamelin-Loring. Unfortunate occurances force him to lose his place as a fiddler in a baron's personal orchestra. This starts the naive hero on his journey through life. Along the way, he joins a travelling acting troup and falls for a princess. Sebastian also comes across a magnificent fiddle which makes music beyond anyone's dreams. Sebastian also has the misfortune of gaining a large number of powerful enemies. Sebastian ends up having to face all of his difficulties with his friends and grow up along the way.

The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian is what all children's literature should strive to be. It presents a great story and contains depth. The reader learns countless lessons about life as Sebastian learns them in the novel. The novel speaks of love, growing up, evil, and even democratic governments. The novel also speaks of the power of beauty. In the novel, the supernatural fiddle almost brings Sebastian down as he is made drunk on its music.

I will end this review with Lloyd Alexander's own profound comments about the book. They might be irrelevent until after a person reads the novel, but I do not know if they are in new editions of the book and they should be read somewhere:

"The story isn't only about a musician. Fantasy should speak from and to the human condition, and I think each of us carries Sebastian's fiddle in one form or another. The question is: How closely dare we listen to it? How willing are we to commit ourselves to its music? Sebastian heard his own answer, as we must hear our own melodies."

All worshippers of JS Bach need to acquire this informative and satisfying journal dedicated to the absolutely most profoundly sublime genious in all of music. If having all of Bach's masterworks in your CD collection wasn't enough...you need to add this book for further intellectual stimulation because here Bach is presented in his OWN WORDS! Every example of written coorespondence by Bach and his contemporaries concerning him has been preserved and translated from the hand of Bach's penmanship and presented to the reader. As a result, we can glimpse into another facet of the mind behind the music. Although most of the letters were written to either one offical or another (and therefore embellished with the standard nomenclatures of the time), I was able to detect exasperation, sarcasm, fearlessness, austerity, humor, ridicule and sorrow in much of them. In the vast majority of the wordy, complex style of his coorespondence we begin to see that Bach composed his complaints in much the same vein he composed fugues; lavish phrases, requests and expostulations are intertwined in the most respectful manner to his superiors...and simultaneuosly he projects an attitude that if his needs are not met he will resort to higher means...usually meaning petitioning the King himself (which on one occasion he ultimately did!) His complaints ranged from objectional wages, unruly choirboys, the relegations of authority, and his delinquent son (in which the debtors were now pestoring Bach to compensate). It is true that not many personal references by Bach have come down to us, but there are a few morsels for us to dwell on; his declining a gift from a cousin stating that the tax required was much to high for the parcel itself, he mentions with regret a flask of wine that broke open (accidentally?) while on route in the mail and spilled out, and how not too many people were dying...so unfortunately he wasnt making out too well on funeral music composition. We begin to see that apart from his unsurpassable genious and intellect, he was very much a normal person...even a bit dull. He certainly had a dry sense of humor and had absolutely zero tolerance for people he thought were using him...and for those he thought were not taking him seriously. The is one instance where he got into a street fight at the marketplace, another instance where he was reprimanded for introducing "strange sounds and alterations in the harmonic structure" during mass at the organ (the buddings of his genious). He was interrogated for bringing a "strange maiden" up to the organ loft with him. He even spent some time in jail for being too stubborn when his leave was denied (he was looking for better work and his employers refused to let him go). He was reprimanded for overstaying leave time on another occasion (by like 2 months!) hanging out in Lubeck to see Buxtehude play. He had no qualms whatsoever in disqualifying students from his instruction if they showed any from of recalcitrance or inept musical talent. Buy this book! You can read all about these things and more from the REAL letters! There is plenty of praise and accolades to go along with it, both by his contemporaries and posthumurous composers. Read about Mendelsohn's debut of the St Matthew's Passion (100 years after Bach performed it last) written by the tenor who sang Christ's lines in the score during that performance! Look at the replicated facsimilies of Bach's letters in his own hand! The book is full of paintings of Bach...in all stages of his career. Read his letters and get some insight into the turmoil and altercations, of the humor and sarcasm of the greatest genious of music this world has ever known. His music is immortal and nothing can even come close; not even the greatest works of Mozart or Beethoven can overshadow the universal sublimity and unsurpassed ecstasy the world can find the the music of the Almighty Johann Sebastian Bach.

I have been studying this book for the last 2 months. The amount of information that is in this book, and not many others, is incredible. Actual letters from JS Bach showing how he feels. Descriptions of performances that were only available from PhD's in the past are available to you in this publication.

On the subject of J.S. Bach, this is one of the best resources I have found.

This slender volume stands at the opposite end of the spectrum from Christof Wolff's monumental "Bach, the Learned Musician," which I recently completed reading. The latter deals with learned and fascinating detail every aspect of Bach's life and work. Dr Butt's purpose, to "present an opportunity to learn many of the basics of Bach performance (for) those who direct choirs, and those who sing and play," is much more narrow in scope. As one who has sung Bach's B Minor Mass with a community chorus and orchestra, as well as having played in a (very) amateur way some of his works on piano and recorder in my younger days, I can testify that Dr Butt achieves his purpose very well.

He is the editor of the volume, and contributes an article on ornamentation. Dr James E. Jordan Jr. has one on the Lutheran Chorale, the heart of Bach's sacred choral music; and Fr. Martin Shannon one entitled "Soli Deo Gloria," which stresses Bach's oft repeated, and oft reported, determination that all of his music, whether for church or court, be written for the Glory of God. My copy of the book is already heavily underlined, showing that even after a lifetime of enjoying (and that is much too tepid a word) Bach's music there is always something new to be learned.

For instance Fr Shannon explication of the "tension" in Bach's choral works between Lutheran orthodoxy and Pietism, wherein he uses the example of the differenc betwen "Christ for us" or "Christ in us." Or Dr Butt's comments on ornamentation, which are particularly pertinent to me at present because lately I have been listening, with score in hand, and in open-mouthed astonishment, to Andras Schiff playing the English Suites. The lightness of Schiff's touch as he seamlessly fits each perfectly apt ornament into the melody line is beyond comprehension to one who once struggled to tack them on any old way, and Dr Butt explains the whys and wherefores. Dr Timberlake's article on singing Bach is perhaps the most technical, and includes several pages of musical examples from Bach's work for vocal exercises, but even that provided some appreciation of what is involved when an artist "effortlessly" glides thru a maze of notes. This is not a first book for someone just making Bach's acquaintance (unless of course they are singing it for the first time in choir or chorus), Malcon Boyd's "Bach" from Vintage Books makes a wonderful introduction, but it can take someone already familiar with it down a little explored pathway.

My favorite quote in the book, from Albert Schweitzer referring to the duet in the Credo of the B Minor, "Thus Bach proves that dogma can be expressed much more clearly and satisfactorily in music than in verbal formulae."

Amen

And make no mistake, skinny it is! A mere 66 pages. This pamphlet is directed primarily to music directors and singers. I am neither, have no musical training, and cannot read music (so subtract 11 pages of coloratura exercises...which reduces it to only 55 pages of actual text).

Since my church performs Bach cantatas frequently, I was looking for something that could give me a little background information on Bach and the musical forms he chose to work in. This book doesn't really provide that, but the carefully compiled Annotated Bibliography (of mostly English works) lists a number of titles that seem quite promising. Since I am primarily interested in Bach's choral works from the perspective of how they fit into the liturgy, I found Father Martin Shannon's chapter "Soli Deo Gloria" to be the most rewarding. That chapter alone was worth the price of the book.

As stated in the title, this book contains the complete score for all 6 Brandenburg Concerti and all 4 Orchestral Suites by Bach. Parts are not included nor are they available separately from Dover.

It is in modern notation with very clear, dark printing. It is a large-format (approx. 8 1/2 x 11) paperback book and is bound like most paperbacks.

As with all Dover Editions, it is very easy to read and follow the music, but it was not designed as a performing score. Because of the binding (it won't lie flat) and because no attention was given to page turns, it is very difficult to play from. But if you wish to study the music or follow the score while listening to your favorite recording, you can't beat this edition for the money.

I recall reading that when Messaien was captured by the Germans during World War II, one of the few musical references he had in the POW camp was a score to Bach's BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS. The POW camp, of course, was where Messaien wrote his masterpiece QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME. Owning this score won't guarantee the production of further masterpieces, but it is a valuable source of information. This edition also includes the ORCHESTRAL SUITES, as well as a preface that details the discrepancies between various editions of these works.

A blueprint for debates on the new wave of educational activism aiming at changes stemming from humanistic theories and leading toward collective action. A manifesto for a commitment to the ontological quest- to reinstate the path of meaningful teaching practices and learning experiences.

In a technology oriented society obsessed with economic functionality, people are losing the importance of what it means to be fully integrated, fully developed human beings. Could it be that our current educational system is to blame? Sebastian de Assis answers this question concisely in this book by identifying the problems with the educational philosophy of our day and offering well thought-out solutions to reverse this situation, and give Humanity back to humanity. By nurturing and developing the whole person, each one as an individual, rather than cranking out worker-bee after worker-bee in a system of factory schools, each developing human being can be given a chance to have a happy, well-adjusted, fulfilled life. If you are an educator or if you are pursuing a career in education, you owe it to your students - and to yourself - to read this book.

Make space on your metaphysical bookshelf for "Trust Yourself - Master Your Dreams, Master Your Destiny"; it will fit right in. I found this book to be written with clarity and precision, with easy to follow dream guidelines and with many case histories. Dream work is a fascinating subject and the husband/wife team of Michael and Nicole Sebastian write in such a way that I could sense that they are living their dream. Perhaps they also are dreaming their life together! Interesting book -- I can recommend it to anyone who has ever had a puzzling dream.

I LOVE TRUST YOURSELF!!
IT PUTS SOME COMPLICATED CONCEPTS INTO EASY-TO-UNDERSTAND LANGUAGE.