Johann Sebastian Bach: ‘Marvellous are thy works’
Michael Maul
English translation by Stewart D Spencer
Hardback, 220 pages, 220x142mm, ISBN: 978-1-7391103-7-6
Jaywood Press

Michael Maul’s monograph, Johann Sebastian Bach: ‘ Marvellous are thy works’ has now been released in an English translation. His book aims to make Bach’s cantatas more accessible through this “passionate declaration of love for his composer-god,” aiming to inspire readers to listen anew to Bach’s works. The German edition won the 2023 Gleim Literature Prize for a work on 18th-century cultural history. Maul gives descriptions and reflections on the three Leipzig cycles of cantatas, the Matthew Passion and the B minor Mass. He also includes rather curious “personal monologues”, where he records several one-sided conversations with Bach, which he uses to promote his own observations and questions without, perhaps sensibly, allowing Bach to respond. The book comes with a Spotify playlist, accessed via a QR code, with tracks referenced throughout the book.

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