ABS Guides

The ABS Guides are a series published by Oxford University Press focused on the works of J. S. Bach and designed to appeal to practitioners, music scholars, and a non-specialist general audience.

The ABS Guides series is sponsored by the Ruth and Noel Monte Fund of the American Bach Society. Ruth and Noel Monte were deeply devoted to Bach and his music, sensing its great impact on the human brain and culture throughout the world. To them, Bach represented a bright planet appearing in the sky only once, requiring centuries for the human mind to observe and fully comprehend. The Monte Fund has the goal of supporting and promoting this living musical treasure for present and future generations.

Bach’s Art of Fugue and Musical Offering, (2024)

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Table of Contents

  • Foreword
  • Acknowledgements
  • Introduction
  • 1. Contrapuntal Pursuits
  • 2. Origins and Audience
  • 3. From One, Many
  • 4. Musical Gaming
  • 5. Paying Tribute
  • 6. Elusive Ideals
  • Glossary
  • Bibliography
  • Index

Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier by Paul Walker (2025)

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Table of Contents

  • Series Editor’s Foreword
  • Acknowledgments
  • 1. Context and Concepts
  • 2. Genesis
  • 3. The Music
  • 4. Legacy, Part I: Composition and Pedagogy
  • 5. Legacy, Part II: Performance
  • Appendix: Contents of the Well-Tempered Clavier, with BWV Numbers
  • Glossary
  • Bibliography
  • Index

Bach’s Church Cantatas by Ruth Tatlow (2025)

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Table of Contents

  • Series Editor’s Foreword
  • Acknowledgments
  • 1. Glory from the Gallery
  • 2. Music for a Mühlhausen Occasion: ‘Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit’
  • 3. Advent Music for Weimar and Leipzig: ‘Nun komm der Heyden Heyland’
  • 4. Music for Winter and Summer: ‘Herz und Mund und That und Leben’
  • 5. Pastoral Music for a Leipzig Springtime: ‘Du Hirte Israel, höre’
  • 6. Candlemas in Leipzig: ‘Ich habe genung’
  • 7. Glory from new Galleries: Reimagining Bach’s Church Cantatas
  • Select Bibliography
    • Index