Dear Classical List members, We are people of various nationalities, ranging professional musicians to amateur listeners, who are united by our passion for Bach's music. As people who take a lively interest in Bach's cantatas, we were delighted to learn that Oxford University Press (OUP) are planning to publish an English translation of Alfred Durr's celebrated book The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: UK: http://www.oup.co.uk/isbn/0-19-816707-5 USA: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Music/MusicTheoryAnalysisComposition/?view=3Dusa&ci=3D0198167075 We are deeply dismayed, however, by the price at which this book is offered. Many of us are already familiar with Durr's superb book in the German original. The sixth edition of this book is now sold by Barenreiter at 27.95 euros. We recognise that, in pricing their edition, OUP need to take into account the extra costs of translation (of Durr's text as well as of the cantatas' libretti). We still fail to understand, however, how this warrants a price tag of 175 pounds (UK) or $340.- (USA). This book is presumably targeted at the same audience as the late Malcolm Boyd's Oxford Composer Companion: J. S. Bach, Eric Chafe's Analyzing Bach Cantatas and Christoph Wolff's Bach: The Learned Musician; yet it costs more than these three books together (even in their hardcover editions). We are angered by OUP's decision to charge more for a translation of an existing book than OUP themselves charge for three new books, which surely represent a level of scholarship and originality commensurate with Durr's and Jones's. We are also puzzled by this decision: at this price, individual readers are unlikely to purchase the book at all (we suspect that even many libraries would balk at this price). As many members of our international community (with about 500 members of the Bach Cantatas Mailing List) can attest, this book has a potential market beyond that of musicians, musicologists and libraries; Durr's elegant and lucid writing appeals to scholars and amateurs alike. Yet this market is unlikely to materialise if OUP persist in their current pricing policy. We acknowledge that the author, translator and publishers of this invaluable book deserve financial reward and compensation for their work and investment. We believe, however, that they are more likely to receive their reward by bigger sales at a reasonable price, rather than through the sale of a handful of copies at an inflated price. Following feedback from members of the BCML, I opened a special e-mail address to which you are invited to send your requests regarding the pricing of this important book. The e-mail address is: [log in to unmask] My intention is to compile all your messages and to send them to Oxford University Press. I hope that in that way we might persuade the people in OUP's mangement to re-consider the pricing of this book and make it more affordable to the growing community of Bach lovers around the world. Sincerely yours, Dr. Uri Golomb, PhD in Musicology at Cambridge University, UK Aryeh Oron, Bach and Jazz Music Fan WebMaster of Bach Cantatas Website: http://www.bach-cantatas.com