The Music of Bach: The Complete Edition = 142 CDs With Six Free Add-Ons

In fact ... and there is no trick. First of all, the Bach Complete Works of the label (music publisher) Brillant Classic is the current one from 2014. And not the Bach Complete Works from 2006. And also not the Bach Complete Works from 2001. Because all three are still – new – on the market. And all three look different. But in addition to our 2014 Bach Gesamttwerk (Bach Complete Edition), there are also eight surprises: First, there is the Bach Gesamtausgabe, or more precisely, the "Alte Bach-Gesamtausgabe." Gesamtwerk (Complete Edition)? Gesamtausgabe (Complete Edition)? Not the same thing? No, the Bach Gesamtwerk can be listened to, the Gesamtausgabe can "only" be looked at. You can also buy it on the internet, elsewhere, for € 135. At "Bach 4 You" you get it as an addition to the complete works, and that alone is almost the amount mentioned above. As the "most fitting" addition. But there is more to it: First, it's the Bach Biography for Children, and that comes in three versions, one of which is a cool audiobook. Then the two audio collages "Quotes and Tributes Medley" and the "Necrology" are really exciting.

The Difference Between the Bach Gesamtausgabe and the Bach Gesamtwerk Is Essential. It's Tough to Explain in German and It's Even Tougher in English! 

No, you will not get this work from us on paper. And not in such a great cover either. In immaculate appearance. Not one of the 49 volumes from 1851 to 1899, but? As PDF files: just ... as a download. The Bach Gesamtausgabe – among Bach connoisseurs and music lovers – refers to the collection of all music sheets still known from the time of Johann Sebastian Bach. There are actually no less than 16,800 pages, which are no longer available on the open market in a single edition on paper. Only scanned can they still be found here and there. And in few libraries in the world there are still the originals. But this only applies to the "Old Bach Complete Edition". The "New Bach Complete Edition" was created between the years 1951 and 2007. Read more about both editions and the emerging third Bach Complete Edition here. The Bach Complete Works at "Bach 4 You" indeed also has its own website with much, much information.

The Bach Music Complete Edition: From € 1,435 to € 139! The Same Music by Bach, But Different Prices

Have much fun googling. While you can find the same ( ! ) Bach Gesamtwerk (... Bach's music on CDs) – new – usually offered between € 139.00 and € 1,435.00 – and in addition also used – still in addition in different editions of one and the same music label and other music publishers, there are only three variants of this so-called Bach- Gesamtausgabe. How nice. This is more manageable, but the details are exciting. First, there is the so-called "Alte (...Old) Bach-Gesamtausgabe." It is what you get from my publishing house when you buy the Bach Complete Works (... Bach's Music on 142 CDs). It is the compilation of all Bach's works as a collection of sheet music, as well as their preparation and publication, which was done by the publisher Breitkopf and Härtel from 1851 to 1899. From 1851 on, one volume was published every year. In the meantime, well over 100 years have passed since the publication of the latest volume of this edition, and thus the work is in the public domain.

That means I'm allowed to give it to you, I'm allowed to sell it to you, and I'm allowed to do anything else I can think of with it. Of course, it makes no sense at all to offer these 16,800 pages on paper today. But you could – if you feel like it and have a lot of time – print out these PDF files. And then you have the "Old Bach Gesamtausgabe" on paper after all. Only: I am not allowed to offer it to you as a collected work, if I would have simply copied it as a completely scanned or photographed project somewhere, that is stolen it ( ! ). For example on the internet. Because, that would create ... actually a new copyright. Would you have known it? What do you do in such a case? You copy it yourself. Or rather, you photograph it yourself. By the way, it takes about 29 hours. Then you have it, this "Old Bach Gesamtausgabe" (... the Bach Works Note Sheets).

Then, since 1954, the "New Bach Gesamtausgabe" was created, and it is published by Bärenreiter in Kassel, Germany. This work was also not published "at one sitting", but from 1954 to 2007. The curious thing: The very last, so really the very-very-last edition was announced for the year 2016, then the New Bach Gesamtausgabe was finally complete and published. Upon inquiry there, I was told a purchase price of € 16,000 to € 20,000, depending on the status of work on the very last part. If you are interested, it is best to ask there yourself or contact a bookseller you trust.

Finally, however – in order not to make it too simple – another completely new Bach Complete Edition with the official name "Revised New Bach Gesamtausgabe" has been in the making for a very short time. In 2015, exactly three volumes of this edition had already been published, at a price of € 600 each. Quite naturally, the editions from 1954 to 2007 / 16 as well as the "Revised New Bach Gesamtausgabe" are again protected with a new copyright, namely that of the revision, and therefore they are just not and nowhere anywhere on the internet "for free". There is even a little more confusion since about 2020 ... there this work is called only "New Bach Edition (... Neue Bach-Ausgabe)": They have simply eliminated what it is about. How cool. Or not. Why not call it "Bach Works on Sheet Music" or something like that?!

Conclusion: If you are a Bach scientist, or better, if you are a Bach scientist in search of lost and undiscovered works of Bach, or if you are writing your dissertation on the Bach works, that is what the Bach Complete Edition of sheet music is called. Or if you even intend to become a professor on this subject, then ... give your heart a push and buy the finished "New Bach Gesamtausgabe". Or, alternatively: You wait until about 2066 ... then the "Revised New Bach Gesamtausgabe" will surely be ready, too. For all others of us, that is Bach lovers, musicians, students, church musicians, conductors, pupils, the following applies: The Old Bach Gesamtausgabe brings "fun without end" and measured by its price (... you can also buy it for € 134 as a PDF file on the internet ... but not in my publishing house ...  here you get it only as an addition to the Bach complete works, that is the music of Bach on CDs) it is simply super-cool as an addition compared to the current and the coming renewed one. "For free" is the Old Bach Gesamtausgabe, even if it is not the new one – and "maybe five" works that were not assigned to Bach until 1899 – the "mega-fun of the century". To the store? Go this way.

Why Are We Doing That? Why Are We Offering That?

The Bach Music Complete Edition ...  142 CDs in a Box. And This Comes with Six Free Add-Ons!

Simply here again, because space on the internet on your own website costs nothing at all: Above it is the complete music of Bach on CDs, in fact the Bach complete works, in a box. The sheet music to Bach's music, 16,800 pages in many, many volumes: You get it as a download. This is the "Old Bach Gesamtausgabe". And finally, the "Bach Quotes Medley" and the Necrology are included free of charge. You get both as a high-quality audio collage. Finally, the most valuable add-on is the Bach Biography for Children, which is certainly worth reading for parents as well. You get it in three variants: as an eBook (ePUB), as a PDF for your tablet and smartphone, and as an audiobook with 19 musical works by the master, but no longer than three minutes each.

You simply get eight add-ons with your purchase. That's three benefits: 1. The cool, low price, 2. The eight add-ons, and 3. you promote our Bach Mission with every purchase in one of the publisher's stores. You get to CD box offer via the click on the button below.

Pipe Organ Calendars, Composers Calendars, Bach Calendars and Music Calendars: 99 Music Gifts and Gifts for Musicians

A musical gift: a composers calendar. Almost traditionally, one of the 99 music calendars ends every website in the "Bach Mission" and if we have a composers calendar here that fits perfectly to the color of this website, then why not Wagner on a Bach website?! 33 composers calendars are exactly one third of all 99 music calendars. You can find them all in the shop of the publisher. Important for you to know: There are not only these cool variants to the topic "composers calendars", but there are also really, really seriously, conservative and classical composer calendars.

There are actually five Bach stores, including the Publishing House Store of "Bach 4 You", where you can find thousands of music gifts. Click here to get there.

A composers calendar on the left and a composers T-shirt on the right: Two cool music gifts and two cool gifts for musicians.

Musician gifts: The Bach Beer Stein from 1985 and the 2024 Pipe Organ Calendar. Not quite as rare as the Bach beer stein from 2000 is this blue and gray one. You can still order the pipe organ calendar many years from now. And every year "Bach 4 You" publishes a new one.

Renate Bach Publishing "Bach 4 You” – Bildstraße 25, 74223 Flein / Germany – Phone: +49 7131 576761 – info (at) bach4you.de