Bach, Casals & The Six Suites for 'Cello Solo: Volume One

The four volumes of Bach, Casals and the Six Suites for Cello Solo is the telling of a preeminent, but almost unknown, legend of Western culture…. the Life of Sebastian Bach, his Legacy, the Life of Pablo Casals – the heroic cellist who rescued the Six Cello Suites from oblivion – and the saga and rediscovery of Bach’s iconic masterpiece… the companion to Steven Hancoff’s remarkable and ground-breaking three-CD acoustic guitar recording of Bach’s immortal work. 


Volume 1: The Life of J. Sebastian Bach is the story of the great man’s life… Did you know that by the time he was nine years old, Bach had witnessed the death of three siblings, and then in one year the death of his father and then his mother? Or that at the age of 35, after three of his children had died, his wife – Maria Barbara Bach, the love of his life – died? Or that he lived the last 27 years of his life in obscurity, turning out masterpieces even while holding down a day job teaching Latin and leading a boys’ choir?


Designed to take advantage of all of the interactive elements available for Apple iBooks, The Life of J. Sebastian Bach is copiously illustrated, with hundreds of period pictures – portraits, oils, watercolors, stained glass, photographs, etchings and engravings, authentic documents, sculptures, statues and monuments.


The Life of J. Sebastian Bach also includes four beautiful and compelling videos. And not only that, more than 200 contemporary artists from all over the world have contributed hundreds of spectacular works of art, all of them inspired by the music of J. S. Bach.



Immersing myself in the genius of Bach has enriched my life beyond what I can possibly articulate here. I am so excited that this life project of mine is now making its way into the wide world. I can only hope that listeners and readers and musicians alike will also feel enriched for having partaken of it.  – Steven