Description
Book SynopsisFrom 1500, the independent use of the feet in musical performance at the organ was unique to Germany and vital to its cultural standing in Europe. Yearsley presents an account of this mode of music-making spanning some 500 years, including reappraising J. S. Bach's crucial role in that history.
Trade Review'There is much to enjoy in this compelling study.' Early Music
'Part of [Yearsley's] intent in writing Bach's Feet, which is clearly a labor of love, is to reintroduce the organ into general musicological discourse, and perhaps even attract some lay readers. His book certainly deserves to succeed in its mission, and the organ, as he says, is 'ready for a comeback'.' Notes
Table of ContentsIntroduction; 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.
