Tempo and Tactus in the German Baroque

Guides modern performers and scholars through the intricacies of German Baroque metric theory, via analyses of treatises and organ music by J.S. Bach and other leading composers, such as Buxtehude, Bruhns, and Weckman.

Dokter Julia :

JULIA DOKTER is an Instructor of Music History at Georgia State University. She holds a Ph.D. from Universiteit Utrecht, a DMus in organ performance, an MMus in organ performance and an M.A. in music theory, all from McGill University. Before moving to Atlanta, Dokter was the organist and music director at Trinity United Church (Toronto) and First Baptist Church (Montreal).

Raymond Erickson:
This is a book that many of us have been waiting for: one that tackles the frustrating problem of tempo and meter in the Baroque era with scrupulous scholarship, a clear-eyed sense of limits, and the perspective of a practicing musician. Her book is very relevant to interpreting the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Her concern is with relative tempo, which allows a range of reasonable tempi for any given work. There is so much information here concerning specific meters and their historical development that anyone who can digest it all will approach the music of the German Baroque with new understanding, conviction, and a sense of freedom.