Compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach printed during his lifetime (1685–1750) include works for keyboard instruments, such as his Clavier-Übung volumes for harpsichord and for organ, and to a lesser extent ensemble music, such as the trio sonata of The Musical Offering, and vocal music, such as a cantata published early in his career. Other works, such as several canons, were printed without an indication by which instruments they were to be performed. No more than a few works by Johann Sebastian Bach were printed during his lifetime. Extended works for choir and instrumentalists were not printed very often in his day. Bach selected mostly keyboard compositions for publication, which conformed to such contemporary practices, and was instrumental in establishing him as a keyboard composer. His works not only circulated in print: also manuscripts were copied and transmitted. Whether or not a work was selected for print was independent of the quality of the music. Context Whereas earlier composers such as Palestrina, Monteverdi, Praetorius and Schütz had their works printed to ensure that the entire range of their music became more widely known, this was not the case with Bach, who only had a small proportion of his works printed. Christoph Wolff has suggested three reasons: firstly the financial support from municipal councils or noble patrons available to previous generations had diminished in Germany as a result of the Thirty Years War; secondly the expense of printing contrapuntal keyboard music which, at that time in Germany, was more often typeset than engraved; and lastly the low number of potential customers for works that were often technically difficult and unconventional. Counting by BWV numbers, less than ten percent of the composer's output was printed during his lifetime. Especially the choral works, less than half a percent of over 400 BWV numbers, are under-represented. This was however not exceptional for Bach's time when larger works for chorus and orchestra were less often printed. Bach's own efforts to get his works printed concentrated mostly on his keyboard compositions, which contributed to the fact that, at least until the 19th-century Bach Revival, he was mainly regarded as a keyboard composer. Whether or not a work was selected for print was independent of the quality of the music. Most of the prints of Bach's music which appeared during his lifetime were commissioned by the composer. Bach's personal copies, often containing handwritten corrections or additions, have been