Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
New Edition of the Complete Works
Edited by the Johann Sebastian Bach Institute, Göttingen and by the Bach-Archiv Leipzig
The New Bach Edition is an Urtext edition offering the world of scholarship a reliable musical text which is equally useful in performance. Prepared with the most exacting methods of source criticism, it has set new standards for modern scholarly-critical editions in the latter half of the 20th century. Work on the New Bach Edition led to the rediscovery of lost compositions and resolved many questions of authenticity in the Bach canon. Most of all, however, the close study of the sources has occasioned a large-scale revision of the chronology of Bach's life, thereby forming the basis for a new image of the composer in our time.
In each series, the volumes not only contain those works by Bach which have survived intact but also those existing as fragments. In addition to a preface, each musical volume presents a selection of the relevant sources in facsimile. It is also accompanied by a separately published critical report.
Publication Schedule
The edition will appear in over 100 volumes divided into the following series:
Series I: Cantatas (47 volumes)
Series II: Masses, Passions, Oratorios (12 volumes)
Series III: Motets, Chorales, Lieder (4 volumes)
Series IV: Organ Works (11 volumes)
Series V: Keyboard and Lute Works (14 volumes)
Series VI: Chamber Music (5 volumes)
Series VII: Orchestral Works (7 volumes)
Series VIII: Canons, Musical Offering, Art of Fugue (3 volumes)
Series IX: Addenda (4 volumes)
Supplement: Bach Documents (10 volumes)
Subscription Guidelines
The following purchasing options are available for this edition:
- Purchase of individual volumes at retail sales prices
- Part subscription to individual series (a price advantage of approx. 15 %)
- Full subscription (a price advantage of approx. 20 %)
For further information please ask your customer service.