Has the Bach Compendium been completed?

Question

The Bach Compendium (BC) is a multi-volume attempt by renowned scholar Christoph Wolff and others to replace the traditional but obsolete BWV numbering system. It is my understanding that the first four volumes (work groups A through H, T, and V, encompassing all of Bach's vocal production) have been published in the 1980s, but after that the project appears to have been discontinued.

However, according to this page and other online sources (even Spotify), work groups J, K (organ music), L (keyboard and lute music), and even Q (didactic works) seem to have been compiled, at least partially. These letters roughly correspond to the contents of the fifth volume of the series, which is nowhere to be found.

Where has this part of the BC catalogue been published?

Answer 1

Where has this part of the BC catalogue been published?

After doing some research on this, I'd say it has not been "officially published." That is, I can't find any evidence that a completed version has been published by one of the recognized houses. I did however find numerous reputable sources stating the BC has not been completed past H.

Regarding that IMSLP listing, my guess is they assigned those numbers on their own. It is "manually maintained," not aggregated or copied from another source. The alphabetical categories had already been determined, and the works had already been ordered by BWV, so assigning corresponding BC numbers seems elementary.

All that being said, when IMSLP (or anyone else) posts online that is a form of "publishing" and IMSLP is highly regarded in classical music circles. Therefore one could argue that IMSLP is the answer to your question of "where."

I did find this link, which was described as being a "complete" listing of BC numbers - yet it seems to be a dead end (and actually has a few broken links, despite being managed by a Bach institute): https://www.vifamusik.de/metaopac/search;jsessionid=122080EEB517D9E4CC9ECF75EC514D11.touch01?id=als86437vifamusik&View=mus