Bach, J.S. (1685-1750)
Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (BWV 846-893)
Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel. [1866]. Johann Sebastian Bach's Werke. Herausgegeben von der Bach-Gesellschaft. Erster Theil. 1722; Zweiter Theil. 1744; Anhang. Varianten und Erlauterungen. Engraved throughout. Halftitle; Title; Verzeichniss Der Handscriften und Drucke, Franz Kroll [xiii - xxxv]; Bemerkungen fur den Spieler [xxxvii]; 270 pp. Some browning and foxing, mostly around the outer edges of margins and rarely within the plate. Brown marbled boards, half tan percaline. Wrapper bound in, with the ownership signature of conductor and composer John Bitter (1909 - 1971).Rare edition of the the Well-tempered Clavier from the first complete edition of Bach's works, published by the Bach-Gesellschaft, founded in Leipzig in 1850 "with the primary intention of producing a collected edition of Bach's works. It grew out of the Bach revival of the early decades of the 19th century that increasingly focused on the composer's great vocal works. These had previously been largely neglected, but several attempts were now made by individuals or publishers to initiate editions of the complete works or of particular groups of works. During the second half of the 18th century Bach's works had been transmitted mainly in manuscript copies, but in the early 19th century, after the dispersions of several great manuscript collections, the need arose to secure his music - now valued as a national heritage - once and for all in reliable editions." Boyd, ed.: J.S. Bach, p. 56-57.
Bach's Well-tempered Clavier (or the 48 Preludes and Fugues) stands at the core of baroque keyboard music and has been a model and inspiration for performers and composers ever since it was written.
John Bitter was a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA. He was a student of Artur Rodzinski and Emil Mlynarski for conducting, a student of William Kincaid and Georges Barrere for flute, and a student of Rosario Scalero for composition. He conducted the Jacksonville Symphony from 1934-1937, and the Florida Federal Symphony from 1937-1939. He was also a guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Radio Italiana, the Hamburg Philharmonic, and other European symphonies from 1945-1950. (8350)
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