As well as being a research biologist, a prolific novelist, and someone who always seems to have enjoyed being a little bit provocative, Maarten 't Hart is also well-known as a writer on classical music topics, and as an amateur musician. By his own account he seems to have spent most of his teenage years in the organ-loft of the Grote Kerk in Maassluis.

This is a much expanded and revised reworking of the little Bach-guide 't Hart originally wrote in 2000 for a special promotion by a Dutch chain-store, which eventually printed 120 000 copies of it. In this new version it's more a collection of linked essays than a systematic "life and works", and it's pitched somewhere between a personal account of the pleasure of playing and listening to Bach's music and a guide for those proposing to venture into the vast jungle of secondary literature on Bach.

One of 't Hart's main points throughout the book is to remind us how very little information there is in the historical record about Bach's life, and how unrepresentative that evidence may well be. Just because the only documents that survive deal with conflicts, we don't have the right to conclude that Bach was "difficult" or "combative" — he may well have been, but there's no real evidence. Similarly, 't Hart refuses to draw any conclusions about Bach's religious beliefs, although he points us to the writers who've set out the arguments for and against the "5th evangelist" categorisation.

There's a hilarious section where he looks at the ways a dozen or so different biographers have described the famous incident of the recalcitrant bassoonist Geyersbach, which is important only because it is the first record we have of a word actually spoken by Bach (the slightly opaque insult "Zippelfagottist"). Everyone deals with it, but no two accounts agree with each other on what happened, and all seem to add something to, or misunderstand, the few pages in the Arnstadt municipal archives that deal with the matter. And there are also two chapters of richly annotated and critical bibliography listing all the main sources on Bach, before and after 2000 (the first time I've enjoyed listening to a bibliography in an audiobook!).

On the works, 't Hart focusses most on the cantatas and on the Wohltemperiertes Klavier ("The 48") and the Goldberg Variations, where we get a detailed discussion of the state of play on textual and historical questions, followed by a wonderful short, pithy account of each piece in order. On the organ music and the concertos there are similar, but slightly less comprehensive discussions, whilst the remaining works get treated more briefly. It's noteworthy that 't Hart writes about the keyboard works from the point of view of a performer, giving due credit to other keyboard players who have done that, like Peter Williams; on the choral works he writes as a listener, telling us that — unlike earlier writers like Albert Schweitzer — he's not competent to judge a complex choral work from the score alone. He's constantly sniping at Koopman, Eliot Gardiner and Suzuki because he disagrees with their fast tempi, but he clearly appreciates very much the effort they have put into getting all the surviving cantatas performed and recorded. (The audiobook comes with a few arias and choruses from Koopman's cantata cycle in between the chapters; I think the paper book comes with a CD.)

The B-minor Mass doesn't get a separate section, on the basis that it's all recycled from cantatas anyway. On the Matthäus he confines himself to a short discussion of composition history, and goes on to tell the reader — reasonably enough — that since they are interested enough to be reading this book, they obviously already know it as well as he does. (For a Dutch music-lover, it would be inconceivable not to perform or listen to the Matthäus at least once a year.)

Probably not a book to read unless you already have at least a little bit of knowledge about Bach's life and works, but I enjoyed 't Hart's enthusiasm for his subject and it made a few interesting points, and got me to listen to some cantatas... ( )

Das Buch ist eigentlich nur dann wirklich interessant, wenn man Bach einigermaßen kennt. Am besten hört man sich dazu auch ein bisschen was von ihm an.
Mir war nicht klar, wie wenig über Bach bekannt ist und wie schnell Biografien ins Richtung Fiktion gehen. ( )

Ik had dit boekje niet eerder te pakken kunnen krijgen. Achteraf wel bij boekwinkeltjes.nl maar toen wist ik van dat bestaan nog niet af. Dit boek sprankelt van liefde voor het werk van Bach, daarom drie sterren. Ik werd eigenlijk benieuwd naar de Nederlandse versie (vond de vertaling in het Duits wat simpel af en toe). ( )