Bach's Feet

The organist seated at the king of instruments with thousands of pipes rising all around him, his hands busy at the manuals and his feet patrolling the pedalboard, is a symbol of musical self-sufficiency yielding musical possibilities beyond that of any other mode of solo performance. In this book, David Yearsley presents a new interpretation of the significance of the oldest and richest of European instruments, by investigating the German origins of the uniquely independent use of the feet in organ playing. Delving into a range of musical, literary and visual sources, Bach's Feet demonstrates the cultural importance of this physically demanding mode of music-making, from the blind German organists of the fifteenth century, through the central contribution of Bach's music and legacy, to the newly-pedaling organists of the British Empire and the sinister visions of Nazi propagandists.

ISBN 0521199018   Pages 312 ISBN13 9780521199018 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 780 Publisher Cambridge University Press   Published in Cambridge Imprint Cambridge University Press   Series title Musical Performance and Reception Format Hardback   Height (mm) 247 Publication date 19 Jan 2012   Width (mm) 174 DEWEY 786.519380943   Spine width (mm) 19 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Professional / Scholarly

Introduction; 1. Inventing the organist's feet; 2. Harmonies of the feet, visions of the body; 3. Walking towards perfection: pedal solos and cycles; 4. The pedal in the cosmopolitan age of travel; 5. Treading the globe: the world-wide expansion of the German pedal ideal; 6. Bach's feet.

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