Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
's
chorale harmonisation
A Lutheran chorale is a musical setting of a Lutheran hymn, intended to be sung by a Church (congregation), congregation in a German Protestant Church service. The typical four-part harmony, four-part setting of a chorale, in which the sopranos ...
s, alternatively named four-part chorales, are
Lutheran hymn
Martin Luther was a great enthusiast for music, and this is why it forms a large part of Lutheran services; in particular, Luther admired the composers Josquin des Prez and Ludwig Senfl and wanted singing in the church to move away from the '' ...
settings that characteristically conform to the following:
*
four-part harmony
The term "four-part harmony" refers to music written for four voices, or for some other musical medium—four musical instruments or a single keyboard instrument, for example—for which the various musical parts can give a different note for ...
*
SATB
SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass.
Choral music
Four-part harm ...
vocal forces
* pre-existing
hymn tune
A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...
allotted to the
soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
part
* text treatment:
**
homophonic
In music, homophony (;, Greek: ὁμόφωνος, ''homóphōnos'', from ὁμός, ''homós'', "same" and φωνή, ''phōnē'', "sound, tone") is a texture in which a primary part is supported by one or more additional strands that flesh ...
** no repetitions (i.e., each syllable of the hymn text is sung one time)
Around 400 of such chorale settings by Bach, mostly composed in the first four decades of the 18th century, are extant:
* Around half of that number are chorales which were transmitted in the context of larger vocal works such as cantatas, motets, Passions and oratorios. A large part of these chorales are extant as autographs by the composer, and for nearly all of them a
colla parte
A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...
instrumental and/or
continuo accompaniment are known.
* All other four-part chorales exclusively survived in collections of short works, which include manuscripts and
18th-century prints. Apart from the ''
Three Wedding Chorales'' collection (
BWV
The (BWV; ; ) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2a ...
250–252), these are copies by other scribes and prints only published after the composer's death, lacking context information, such as instrumental accompaniment, for the individual harmonisations.
Apart from homophonic choral settings, Bach's Lutheran hymn harmonisations also appear as:
* sung
chorale fantasia
Chorale fantasia is a type of large composition based on a chorale melody, both works for organ, and vocal settings, for example the opening movements of Bach's chorale cantatas, with the chorale melody as a cantus firmus.
History
Chorale fantas ...
s in some of Bach's larger vocal works
* hymn melodies for which Bach composed or improved a
thorough bass accompaniment, for instance as included in
Georg Christian Schemelli
Georg Christian Schemelli (born 1676 or 1678 or 1680 – 5 March 1762) was a German Protestant church musician. He is known for the publication ''Musicalisches Gesang-Buch'', a collection of sacred songs to which Johann Sebastian Bach contributed ...
's ''
Musicalisches Gesang-Buch''
* harmonisations included in purely instrumental compositions, most typically organ compositions such as
chorale prelude
In music, a chorale prelude or chorale setting is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque era and reached its culmination in the works of J.S. Bach, who wrote 46 ...
s or
chorale partitas.
History
The compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach that had been
printed during his lifetime were nearly exclusively instrumental works. Moreover, by the time Bach died in 1750 it was forgotten that a few of his vocal works (
BWV 71,
BWV 439–507,...) had indeed been printed in the first half of the 18th century. In the period between the publication of ''
The Art of Fugue
''The Art of Fugue'', or ''The Art of the Fugue'' (german: Die Kunst der Fuge, links=no), BWV 1080, is an incomplete musical work of unspecified instrumentation by Johann Sebastian Bach. Written in the last decade of his life, ''The Art of Fug ...
'' in the early 1750s, and the publication of further works from 1900, only one group of Bach's works was published: his four-part chorales.
The most complete 18th century publication of chorales by J. S. Bach is
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...
's edition in four volumes, published by
Breitkopf from 1784 to 1787. About half of the chorale harmonisations in this collection have their origin in other extant works by Bach. This collection went through four more editions and countless reprintings until 1897. Several other collections of chorales by J. S. Bach were published, some of these using the original
C-clefs or different texts.
The loss of musical material from Bach's death to the first printings of chorale collections may have been substantial. Not only are many works the chorales were extracted from no longer extant but there is no way of knowing how much of all the harmonisations that were once compiled the current collections include. For example, there is no way of knowing how many of the 150 harmonisations first proposed for sale in 1764 also appear in Princess Anna Amalia's manuscript which ultimately forms the basis of the Breitkopf edition. As to the chorale melodies with figured bass, current collections include less than one hundred of them whereas those proposed for sale in 1764 numbered 240.
The chorale harmonisations BWV 250–438 were probably all extracted from lost larger vocal works. For six of them the work they have been derived from has been identified. Bach's chorale harmonisations are all for a four-part choir (SATB), but
Riemenschneider's and
Terry
Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence (given name), Terence or Terrier (masculine).
People
Male
* Terry Albrit ...
's collections contain one 5-part SSATB choral harmonisation (''Welt, ade! ich bin dein müde'', Riemenscheider No. 150, Terry No. 365), not actually by Bach, but used by Bach as the concluding chorale to cantata
''Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende'', BWV 27.
Some harmonisations exist in different
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
s, i.e.
pitches, in 18th-century sources: for instance a
Bach cantata
The cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, known as Bach cantatas (German: ), are a body of work consisting of over 200 surviving independent works, and at least several dozen that are considered lost. As far as known, Bach's earliest can ...
autograph gives the four-part chorale in one key, and the same harmonisation is found in one or more of the early chorale compilations in a different key.
Manuscripts
The first record of the existence and sale of groups of collected chorale harmonisations and chorale melodies with figured bass extracted from larger works by J.S. Bach is from 1764, fourteen years after Bach's death. In that year the firm Breitkopf und Sohn announced for sale manuscript copies of 150 chorale harmonisations and 240 chorale melodies with figured bass by J.S. Bach.
In 1777
Johann Kirnberger
Johann Philipp Kirnberger (also ''Kernberg''; 24 April 1721, Saalfeld – 27 July 1783, Berlin) was a musician, composer (primarily of fugues), and music theorist. He was a student of Johann Sebastian Bach.
According to Ingeborg Allihn, Kirnberg ...
started an active letter campaign to induce Breitkopf to publish a complete set of chorale harmonisations. Kirnberger's letters emphasize his motivation to have the chorales printed in order to preserve them for the benefit of future generations. The manuscript to be used once belonged to C. P. E. Bach, who sold it through Kirnberger to
Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia
Princess Anna ''Amalia'' of Prussia (9 November 1723 – 30 March 1787) was an early modern German composer and music curator who served as princess-abbess of Quedlinburg. She was a princess of Prussia as the daughter of Frederick William I of ...
(for twelve
louis d'or
The Louis d'or () is any number of French coins first introduced by Louis XIII in 1640. The name derives from the depiction of the portrait of King Louis on one side of the coin; the French royal coat of arms is on the reverse. The coin was re ...
). It is presumed that this manuscript contained neither the text of the chorales nor any reference to the larger works from which the harmonisations had been taken. The manuscript's harmonisations extracted only the vocal parts and ignored the instrumental parts and the continuo, even though all of Bach's chorale settings included both instrumental parts and continuo. The instrumental parts were either independent, so called obbligato instrumental parts, or mostly doubled the vocal parts sometimes separating from it for a very few beats, and the continuo had its bass mostly double the vocal bass at the lower octave, but could also separate from it for a very few beats. Finally in some cases, for reasons unknown, whoever extracted the chorale from the larger work, changed the key of the setting.
; "Y" manuscript hypothesis : Hypothetical early autograph collection of chorale harmonisations from which Bach would have selected settings he later integrated into his larger vocal works.
; Larger vocal works manuscripts : Mostly extant as autograph score and/or as parts written out under Bach's supervision: many of these works, such as cantatas and Passions, include four-part chorales
; ''Three Wedding Chorales'' autograph : Bach's autograph of the wedding chorales BWV 250–252, written between 1734 and 1738.
; Dietel manuscript, a.k.a. Dietel Collection and, in German, Choralsammlung Dietel
:
: Earliest of the extant larger collection of chorale harmonisations manuscripts. It contains 149 chorale harmonisations (not 150 as is written on its title page) and originated around 1735. The music in the manuscript was copied by Johann Ludwig Dietel, one of Bach's pupils from the
Thomasschule
St. Thomas School, Leipzig (german: Thomasschule zu Leipzig; la, Schola Thomana Lipsiensis) is a co-educational and public boarding school in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1212 and is one of the oldest schools ...
.
Printed editions
A few chorale harmonisations had been published before Bach adopted them into his larger vocal works, and are therefore listed as spurious in the
third annex of the BWV catalogue:
* , also known as closing movement of cantata
BWV 27: five-part harmonisation published, for instance, in
Vopelius' 1682
''Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch'', p. 947.
* Cantata
BWV 43, movement 11: harmonisation by published in 1652, later adopted in Vopelius' ''Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch'':
"Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist", p. 70.
* Cantata
BWV 8, movement 6 (
BWV 8/6
"Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben" ("Dearest God, when will I die") is a Lutheran hymn which Caspar Neumann, an evangelical theologian from Breslau, wrote around 1690. The topic of the hymn, which has five stanzas of eight lines, is a refle ...
):
Daniel Vetter
Daniel Vetter (1657/58, in Breslau – 7 February 1721, in Leipzig) was an organist and composer of the German Baroque era.
Life
Born in Breslau, Vetter became a pupil of Werner Fabricius in Leipzig. When Fabricius died in 1679, Vetter succeed ...
's four-part setting of "
Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben
"Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben" ("Dearest God, when will I die") is a Lutheran hymn which Caspar Neumann, an evangelical theologian from Breslau, wrote around 1690. The topic of the hymn, which has five stanzas of eight lines, is a refle ...
", published in 1713.
Several more harmonisations stay close to the version published by Vopelius: for example "Christus, der ist mein Leben", BWV 281, is a variant of the harmonisation found in the ''Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch'', with added embellishments and the harmonic structure altered for one of the tune's four phrases.
Printed collections of Bach's harmonisations usually provide an alphabetical collation of the chorales, that is, ranged alphabetically by text
incipit
The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...
of the hymn. Some editions contain an alphabetical index at the end of the compilation, for instance at the end of the final volume of C. P. E. Bach's 18th-century collection. Other editions, such as the Breitkopf compilations of 1892 and 1899, present the chorales themselves in alphabetical order. However, not all of these alphabetical collations result in analogous chorale sequences. Some major differences in this respect result from chorales that are known by different names: in that case it depends on the editor which name is used for the collation. For example, the melody of "
Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost
"" (Ah dear Christians be comforted) is a Lutheran hymn in German with lyrics by Johannes Gigas, written in 1561. A penitential hymn, it was the basis for Bach's chorale cantata .
History
Johannes Gigas, also called Johannes Henne, wrote a hymn ...
" also being known as "
Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält
"" (, original: ) is a Lutheran hymn by Justus Jonas, a paraphrase of Psalm 124 in eight stanzas. It was first published in 1524 in the Erfurt ''Enchiridion''. The theme of the psalm is the need of help against raging enemies. It has been transla ...
" it is an editor's discretion whether BWV 256 is found early on
[''Johann Sebastian Bach's Werke'' (BGA), Bach-Gesellschaft Leipzig, ed. ]Franz Wüllner
Franz Wüllner (28 January 1832 – 7 September 1902) was a German composer and conductor. He led the premieres of Wagner's ''Das Rheingold'' and ''Die Walküre'', but was much criticized by Wagner himself, who greatly preferred the more celebrate ...
, Breitkopf & Härtel
Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf.
The catalogue currently contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on ...
, vol 39 (1892) and ''Schlußband'' (final volume) (1899). or near the end
[Bernhard Friedrich Richter (editor)]
''Joh. Seb. Bach: 389 Choral-Gesänge für gemischten Chor''.
Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel
Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf.
The catalogue currently contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on ...
, 1899 (later also published as '' Bach: Choralgesänge'') of an alphabetically sorted collection.
18th century
Some of Bach's voice and thoroughbass settings published in
Georg Christian Schemelli
Georg Christian Schemelli (born 1676 or 1678 or 1680 – 5 March 1762) was a German Protestant church musician. He is known for the publication ''Musicalisches Gesang-Buch'', a collection of sacred songs to which Johann Sebastian Bach contributed ...
's 1736 ''
Musicalisches Gesang-Buch'' are better known in their four-part realisation included in the chorale harmonisation collections.
; Chorales published by Birnstiel (200) : In 1765
F. W. Birnstiel published 100 chorales in Berlin. The edition had been initiated by
F. W. Marpurg and completed, edited and supplemented with a preface and a list of errata by C. P. E. Bach. A second volume of 100 was issued by the same publisher in 1769, edited by
J. F. Agricola. C. P. E. Bach criticised this publication as being full of mistakes in an article which was published in Hamburg in the ''Staats- und Gelehrte Zeitung des Hamburgischen unpartheyeschen Correspondenten'' on 30 May 1769, in which he also claimed that some of the chorale harmonisations included in the volume had not been composed by his father.
; C. P. E. Bach's edition for Breitkopf (371) : After Kirnberger died in 1783, C. P. E. Bach became Breitkopf's editor for the chorales, which he then published in four parts:
:* Vol. I (1784): Nos. 1–96
:* Vol. II (1785): Nos. 97–194
:* Vol. III (1786): Nos. 195–283
:* Vol. IV (1787): Nos. 283–370
: Since the number 283 was used twice (last number of Vol. III and first number of Vol. IV), the collection actually contained 371 items. The collection also contained several doubles (e.g. No. 156 is identical to No. 307): it totalled 348 independent harmonisations.
19th century
C. P. E. Bach's selection of 371 chorale harmonisations was republished a few times in the 19th century, for instance by
Carl Ferdinand Becker
Karl Ferdinand Becker (17 July 1804 Leipzig – 26 October 1877 Plagwitz section of Leipzig), was a German writer on music, composer and an organist.
Biography
Becker was the son of physician and writer Gottfried Wilhelm Becker. He attended the ...
in 1832 (third edition), and by
Alfred Dörffel
Alfred Dörffel (24 January 1821 – 22 January 1905) was a German pianist, music publisher and librarian.
Career
Dörffel was born in Waldenburg, Saxony, the son of August Friedrich Dörffel and his wife Christiane Charlotte, née Kröhne. He ...
in 1870.
; Bach Gesellschaft (larger vocal works + 3 + 185): The
Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe
Joh. Seb. Bach's Werke () is the Bach Gesellschaft's collected edition of Johann Sebastian Bach's compositions, published in 61 volumes in the second half of the 19th century. The series is also known as Bach-Gesellschaft edition (german: Bach-Gese ...
(BGA,
Bach Gesellschaft
The German Bach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society) was a society formed in 1850 for the express purpose of publishing the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach without editorial additions. The collected works are known as the Bach-Gesellschaft-Ausga ...
edition) kept the chorale settings that were part of a larger vocal work (cantata, motet, Passion or oratorio) together with these larger vocal works and added the ''Three Wedding Chorales'' to its 13th volume containing wedding cantatas. The remaining separate four-part chorales, purged from doubles, were ordered alphabetically and numbered from 1 to 185 in the 39th volume which was published in 1892.
; Richter's edition for Breitkopf (389) : In the late 19th century Bernhard Friedrich Richter collected all straightforward chorale harmonisations that had appeared in the BGA edition —including as well the separate ones as those from larger vocal works—, added a "Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir" harmonisation from a variant version of
Cantata 130, and numbered all of these chorales in alphabetical order. The set contained a few doubtful and spurious settings (e.g. from
Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesh ...
cantatas which at the time were still attributed to Bach), but four-part settings which were part of a more complex texture (e.g. the fifth movement of
Cantata 22 where the vocal homophony is supplemented by instrumental figuration) were not always included by Richter. The set was published by Breitkopf as ''Joh. Seb. Bach: 389 Choral-Gesänge für gemischten Chor'' in 1899.
20th century
The ''Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis'', published in 1950, did not assign a separate BWV number to harmonisations contained in extant larger vocal works such as cantatas and Passions. The ''Three Wedding Chorales'' were assigned the numbers 250 to 252, and the 185 (+1: see
below
Below may refer to:
*Earth
*Ground (disambiguation)
*Soil
*Floor
*Bottom (disambiguation)
Bottom may refer to:
Anatomy and sex
* Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or ...
) four-part chorales contained in Vol. 39 of the BGA edition were given, in the same order, the numbers 253 to 438.
; Terry (405) : Published in 1929, Charles Sanford Terry's ''J. S. Bach's Four-Part Chorales'' contains 405 chorale harmonisations and 95 melodies with figured bass. The collection was reprinted 1964, with a foreword by Walter Emery.
; Riemenschneider (371) : Albert Riemenschneider's collection of 371 chorales was published in 1941. It contained the same 371 settings as the C. P. E. Bach edition for Breitkopf, but with a few differences in the collation. In some cases Riemenschneider restored some information about obbligato instrumental parts based on extant larger works, e.g. his No. 270 from cantata
BWV 161, or about the continuo bass line if this does not exactly coincide with the vocal bass, e.g. his No. 29 from cantata
BWV 32 and his No. 35 from the ''
Christmas Oratorio
The ''Christmas Oratorio'' (German: ''Weihnachtsoratorium''), , is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance on one of t ...
''. Riemenschneider did however not restore original keys to the extant larger works, but instead kept the chorales in the keys as they had been published in the Breitkopf collection, e.g. his No. 22, in E-flat major, comes from cantata
BWV 180 where it is in F major. At times the key signature in Riemenschneider's edition does not correspond to the key, for instance No. 19, in G minor but written with a "Dorian" G key signature. This too is presumably reproduced from the Breitkopf edition, which would have followed a common 17th- and 18th-century practice.
; Editio Musica Budapest (388) : Editio Musica Budapest (EMB) published Imre Sulyok's edition of 388 chorale harmonisations in 1982. With a few differences (e.g. a de-doubling of the near-identical BWV 253 and 414, and some differences in the collation) the collection is largely comparable to the Richter edition.
; Kalmus (389) : Kalmus republished the 389 chorales of Richter's collection.
; NBA : The
New Bach Edition
The New Bach Edition (NBE) (german: Neue Bach-Ausgabe; NBA), is the second complete edition of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, published by Bärenreiter. The name is short for Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): New Edition of the Complete W ...
published the ''Three Wedding Chorales'' and the four-part chorales contained in the Dietel collection in 1991 (Series III, Vol. 2/1). The chorales from C. P. E. Bach's collection were published in 1996 (Series III, Vol. 2/2). Vol. 3 of the same series, published in 2002, contains a few chorales of doubtful authenticity found in other manuscripts and early editions. Vol. 9 of the second series, published in 2000, contains a few doubtful chorales found in various Passions. Better known chorale harmonisations are also contained in other volumes of series I (cantatas), II (Passions and oratorios) and V (e.g. BWV 299 as contained in the ''
Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
The title ''Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach'' (german: Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach) refers to either of two manuscript notebooks that the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach presented to his second wife, Anna Magdalena. Ke ...
'').
21st century
; Czarnecki (413) : Christopher Czarnecki (editor). ''J.S. Bach 413 Chorales''. SeeZar Publications, 2014.
; Dahn (420) : Luke Dahn (editor). ''J.S. Bach Chorales: a new critical and complete edition arranged by BWV catalogue number with text and historical contextual information included for each chorale with numerous indices included in the appendix.'' LuxSitPress, 2017.
Chorale harmonisations in various collections
Most of Bach's known chorale harmonisations are movements in his extant cantatas, motets, Passions and oratorios. These are compositions which have a BWV number ranging from 1 to 249. BWV 250 to 438 is the range of the separate four-part chorales. Chorale harmonisations with a number above 438 are mostly later additions to the BWV catalogue. The 5th chapter of the
1998 edition of the ''Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis'' (BWV
2a) contains the chorales BWV 250–438, and some later additions (BWV 500a, 1084, 1089 and 1122–1126).
Numbering conventions
All BWV numbers used in the listings below are according to the latest version of the ''Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis'' and further updates of these numbers found at the
Bach Digital
Bach Digital (German: ), developed by the Bach Archive in Leipzig, is an online database which gives access to information on compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and members of Bach family, his family. Early manuscripts of such compositions are ...
website. When a BWV number is followed by a slash ("/"), the number or letter after that slash indicates the movement in the composition.
Settings from ''
Schemellis Gesangbuch
Schemellis Gesangbuch (Schemelli's hymnal) is the common name of a collection of sacred songs titled ''Musicalisches Gesang-Buch'' (Musical song book) published in Leipzig in 1736 by Georg Christian Schemelli, to which Johann Sebastian Bach contr ...
'' are indicated by their BWV number (BWV 439–507), by the number of the hymn in the original publication (Nos. 1–954),
Georg Christian Schemelli
Georg Christian Schemelli (born 1676 or 1678 or 1680 – 5 March 1762) was a German Protestant church musician. He is known for the publication ''Musicalisches Gesang-Buch'', a collection of sacred songs to which Johann Sebastian Bach contributed ...
, editor; Johann Sebastian Bach, composer and arranger
''Musicalisches Gesang-Buch, darinnen 954 geistreiche, sowohl alte als neue Lieder und Arien, mit wohlgesetzten Melodien, in Discont und Baß, befindlich sind: Vornehmlich denen Evangelischen Gemeinen im Stifte, Naumburg-Zeitz gewidmet''.
Leipzig: Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf
Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf (2 March 1695 in Clausthal, now Clausthal-Zellerfeld – 26 March 1777 in Leipzig) was a German printer and publisher, and founder of the publisher that became Breitkopf & Härtel.
In 1714 he moved to Leipzig and wor ...
, 1736 and, between brackets, the number of the setting in Vol. 39 of the BGA edition (1–69).
A cross-reference between Lutheran hymns, their
Zahn number, and their appearance in compositions by Bach (including, but not limited to, the chorale harmonisations) can be found pp. 471–481 of BWV
2a.
In larger vocal works
More than 200 of Bach's over 400 homophonic chorale harmonisations survived in his larger vocal works.
In church cantatas
Four-part chorales also appearing as cantata movements composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (verse incipits, and their translations by
Pamela Dellal, from the Emmanuel Music website unless otherwise indicated): BWV
1/
6: "Wie bin ich doch so herzlich froh" ("How happy I am", v. 7 of "
Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern
"" (; How lovely shines the morning star) is a Lutheran hymn by Philipp Nicolai written in 1597 and first published in 1599. It inspired musical settings through centuries, notably Bach's chorale cantata , but also vocal and instrumental works by ...
")
•
2/
6: "Das wollst du, Gott, bewahren rein" ("This, God, you would keep pure", v. 6 of
Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein
"" ("Oh God, look down from heaven") is a Lutheran chorale of 1524, with words written by Martin Luther paraphrasing Psalm 12. It was published as one of eight songs in 1524 in the first Lutheran hymnal, the Achtliederbuch, which contained four s ...
")
•
3/
6: "Erhalt mein Herz im Glauben rein" ("If my heart remains pure in faith", v. 18 of "
Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid
"" (Oh God, how much heartache) is a German hymn in 18 stanzas attributed to Martin Moller (1587). It is often catalogued as a paraphrase of the Latin "Jesu dulcis memoria", a medieval hymn attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux, but only a few lines r ...
")
•
4/8
•
5/7
•
6/6
•
7/7
•
9/7
•
10/7
•
12/7
•
13/6
•
14/5
•
16/6
•
17/7
•
18/5
•
19/7
•
20/7=/11
•
22/5
•
24/6
•
25/6
•
26/6
•
28/6
•
29/8
•
30/6
•
31/9
•
32/6
•
33/6
•
36/4 and /8
•
37/6
•
38/6
•
39/7
•
40/3, /6 and /8
•
41/6
•
42/7
•
44/7
•
45/7
•
46/6
•
47/5
•
48/3 and /7
•
52/6
•
55/5
•
56/5
•
57/8
•
59/3
•
60/5
•
62/6 64.
•
64/2, /4 and /8
•
65/2 and /7
•
66/6
•
67/4 and /7
•
69/6
•
69a/6
•
70/7 and /11
•
72/6
•
73/5
•
74/8
•
75/7=/14
•
76/7=/14
•
77/6
•
78/7 79.
•
79/3 and /6
•
80/8
•
81/7
•
83/5
•
84/5
•
85/6
•
86/6
•
87/7
•
88/7
•
89/6
•
90/5
•
91/6
•
92/9
•
93/7
•
94/8
•
95/1 (extract:
282
Year 282 (Roman numerals, CCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Probus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 1 ...
) and /7
•
96/6
•
97/9
•
99/6
•
100/6
•
101/7
•
102 102 may refer to:
* 102 (number), the number
* AD 102, a year in the 2nd century AD
* 102 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
* 102 (ambulance service), an emergency medical transport service in Uttar Pradesh, India
* 102 (Clyde) Field Squadron, Royal ...
/7
•
103/6
•
104 104 may refer to:
*104 (number), a natural number
*AD 104, a year in the 2nd century AD
* 104 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
* 104 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route
*Hundred and Four (or Council of 104), a Carthagini ...
/6
•
105/6
•
107/7
•
108 108 may refer to:
* 108 (number)
* AD 108, a year
* 108 BC, a year
* 108 (artist) (born 1978), Italian street artist
* 108 (band), an American hardcore band
* 108 (emergency telephone number), an emergency telephone number in several states in Ind ...
/6
•
110
110 may refer to:
*110 (number), natural number
*AD 110, a year
*110 BC, a year
*110 film, a cartridge-based film format used in still photography
*110 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route
*110 (song), 2019 song by Capi ...
/7
•
111/6
•
112 112 may refer to:
*112 (number), the natural number following 111 and preceding 113
*112 (band), an American R&B quartet from Atlanta, Georgia
**112 (album), ''112'' (album), album from the band of the same name
*112 (emergency telephone number), t ...
/5
•
113 113 may refer to:
*113 (number), a natural number
*AD 113, a year
* 113 BC, a year
*113 (band), a French hip hop group
* 113 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route
* 113 (New Jersey bus), Ironbound Garage in Newark and run ...
/1 and /8
•
114/7
•
115/6
•
116 116 (''one hundred and sixteen'') may refer to:
*116 (number)
*AD 116
* 116 BC
* 116 (Devon and Cornwall) Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, a military unit
* 116 (MBTA bus)
* 116 (New Jersey bus)
* 116 (hip hop group), a Christian hip hop collect ...
/6
•
117/4=/9
•
119/9
•
120/6
•
120a/8
•
121/6
•
122/6
•
123/6
•
124/6
•
125 125 may refer to:
* 125 (number), a natural number
*AD 125, a year in the 2nd century AD
* 125 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
*125 (dinghy)
* 125 (New Jersey bus)
See also
* 12/5 (disambiguation)
* Unbipentium
An extended periodic table the ...
/6
•
126/6
•
127/5
•
128/5
•
129/5
•
130 130 may refer to:
*130 (number)
*AD 130
Year 130 ( CXXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Catullinus and Aper (or, l ...
/6
•
133 133 may refer to:
*133 (number)
* AD 133
*133 BC
*133 (song)
*133 (New Jersey bus) 133 may refer to:
*133 (number)
* AD 133
*133 BC
*133 (song) 133 may refer to:
*133 (number)
*AD 133
*133 BC
*133 (song)
*133 (New Jersey bus) 133 may refer to:
* ...
/6
•
135 135 may refer to:
* 135 (number)
* AD 135
* 135 BC
* 135 film, better known as 35 mm film, is a format of photographic film used for still photography
*135 (New Jersey bus) 135 may refer to:
* 135 (number)
* AD 135
* 135 BC
* 135 film, better know ...
/6
•
136 136 may refer to:
*136 (number)
*AD 136
*136 BC 136 may refer to:
*136 (number)
*AD 136
Year 136 ( CXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 136th Year of the Common Era (C ...
/6
•
137 137 may refer to:
*137 (number)
*137 BC
*AD 137
*137 (album), an album by The Pineapple Thief
*137 (MBTA bus)
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus division operates bus routes in the Boston, Massachusetts metropolitan area. All ro ...
/5
•
139 139 may refer to:
* 139 (number), an integer
* AD 139, a year of the Julian calendar
* 139 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar
* 139 (New Jersey bus) 139 may refer to:
* 139 (number), an integer
* AD 139, a year of the Julian calendar
* 13 ...
/6
•
140 140 may refer to:
* 140 (number), an integer
* AD 140, a year of the Julian calendar
* 140 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar
* ''140'' (video game), a 2013 platform game
* Tin King stop
Tin King () is an at-grade MTR Light Rail stop ...
/7
•
144 144 may refer to:
* 144 (number), the natural number following 143 and preceding 145
* AD 144, a year of the Julian calendar, in the second century AD
* 144 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar
* 144 (film), ''144'' (film), a 2015 Indian com ...
/3 and /6
•
145 145 may refer to:
*145 (number), a natural number
*AD 145, a year in the 2nd century AD
* 145 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
*145 (dinghy), a two-person intermediate sailing dinghy
* 145 (South) Brigade
* 145 (New Jersey bus)
See also
* List of ...
/a and /5
•
146 146 may refer to:
*146 (number), a natural number
*AD 146, a year in the 2nd century AD
*146 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
*146 (Antrim Artillery) Corps Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers
See also
* List of highways numbered 146
*
{{Numbe ...
/8
•
147 147 may refer to:
* 147 (number), a natural number
* AD 147, a year of the Julian calendar, in the second century
* 147 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar
* 147 AH, a year in the Islamic calendar that corresponds to 764 – 765 CE
...
/6=/10
•
148 148 may refer to:
*148 (number), a natural number
*AD 148, a year in the 2nd century AD
*148 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
*148 (album), an album by C418
*148 (Meiktila) Battery Royal Artillery
*148 (New Jersey bus) 148 may refer to:
*148 (numb ...
/6
•
149/7
•
151
Year 151 (CLI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Condianus and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 904 ''Ab urbe cond ...
/5 153.
•
153
Year 153 ( CLIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rusticus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 906 '' Ab urbe cond ...
/1, /5 and /9
•
154/3 and /8
•
155/5
•
156/6
•
157/5
•
158/4
•
159
Year 159 ( CLIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time in Roman territories, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Quintillus and Priscus (or, less frequently, year ...
/5
•
161
Year 161 ( CLXI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Aurelius (or, less frequently, year 914 '' Ab urbe condi ...
/6
•
162/6
•
164/6
•
165/6
•
166/6
•
167/5
•
168/6
•
169/7
•
171
Year 171 (Roman numerals, CLXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Herennianus (or, less frequently, year 92 ...
/6
•
172
Year 172 ( CLXXII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scipio and Maximus (or, less frequently, year 925 '' Ab urbe condita ...
/6
•
174
Year 174 ( CLXXIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gallus and Flaccus (or, less frequently, year 927 '' Ab urbe condi ...
/5
•
175/7
•
176
Year 176 ( CLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Proculus and Aper (or, less frequently, year 929 '' Ab urbe condita'') ...
/6
•
177
Year 177 ( CLXXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Plautius (or, less frequently, year 930 ''Ab urbe co ...
/5
•
178/7
•
179/6
•
180
__NOTOC__
Year 180 ( CLXXX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rusticus and Condianus (or, less frequently, year 933 '' Ab ...
/7
•
183
Year 183 ( CLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 936 ''Ab urbe ...
/5
•
184/5
•
185/6
•
187/7
•
188/6
•
190/7
•
194
Year 194 ( CXCIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Septimius and Septimius (or, less frequently, year 947 '' Ab urbe ...
/6 and /12
•
195/6
•
197
Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 '' Ab urbe con ...
/5 and /10
•
197a/7 (≈
398)
Spurious chorale harmonisations in Bach's autographs: BWV
8/6
•
27/6 (=
Anh. 170)
•
43/11
Chorale harmonisations from spurious or doubtful cantatas (or: cantata versions) in the Richter/Kalmus collection of 389 chorale harmonisations: No. 130: from a doubtful version of
BWV 130
• No. 219:
BWV 218/5 =
TWV The Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis (Telemann Works Catalogue), abbreviated TWV, is the numbering system identifying compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann, published by musicologist Martin Ruhnke.
The prefix TWV is generally followed by a Music genre, ...
1:634/5: "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist", by Telemann
• No. 387:
BWV 219/5 = TWV 1:1328/5: "Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält", by Telemann
In motets
Chorale harmonisations appearing in Bach's motets: BWV
226
Year 226 ( CCXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Marcellus (or, less frequently, year 979 '' Ab urbe con ...
/2
•
227
Year 227 ( CCXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Senecio and Fulvius (or, less frequently, year 980 ''Ab urbe condi ...
/1=/11, /3 (
SSATB) and /7
•
229/2
In Passions
=In ''St Matthew Passion''
=
Four-part chorales appearing in the ''
St Matthew Passion
The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets ...
'': BWV
244
__NOTOC__
Year 244 (Roman numerals, CCXLIV) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Tiberius Pollenius Armenius Peregrinus, Arm ...
/3, /10, /15≈/17, /25, /32, /37, /40, /44, /46, /54 and /62
•
244b/29
=In ''St John Passion''
=
Four-part chorales appearing in the ''
St John Passion
The ''Passio secundum Joannem'' or ''St John Passion'' (german: Johannes-Passion, link=no), BWV 245, is a Passion or oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the older of the surviving Passions by Bach. It was written during his first year as direc ...
'': BWV
245/3, /5 (=
BWV 416), /11, /14, /15, /17, /22, /26, /28, /37 and /40
=In ''St Mark Passion'' pasticcio
=
For his own performances of the ''
Jesus Christus ist um unsrer Missetat willen verwundet
''Jesus Christus ist um unsrer Missetat willen verwundet'' is a St Mark Passion which originated in the early 18th century and is most often attributed to Reinhard Keiser. It may also have been composed by his father Gottfried or by Friedri ...
'' Passion Bach composed and/or reworked a few of its chorales: No. 9b: "So gehst du nun, mein Jesu" (
BWV 500a
''Jesus Christus ist um unsrer Missetat willen verwundet'' is a St Mark Passion which originated in the early 18th century and is most often attributed to Reinhard Keiser. It may also have been composed by his father Gottfried or by Friedri ...
)
• No. 14: "O hilf Christe, Gottes Sohn" (
BWV 1084
''Jesus Christus ist um unsrer Missetat willen verwundet'' is a St Mark Passion which originated in the early 18th century and is most often attributed to Reinhard Keiser. It may also have been composed by his father Gottfried or by Friedri ...
)
• No. 29:
"O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid" (BWV deest)
In oratorios
=''Ascension Oratorio''
=
Four-part chorale appearing in the ''
Ascension Oratorio
Ascension or ascending may refer to:
Religion
* "Ascension", "Assumption", or "Translation", the belief in some religions that some individuals have ascended into Heaven without dying first
* Ascension of Jesus
* Feast of the Ascension (Ascen ...
'': BWV
11/6
=''Christmas Oratorio''
=
Four-part chorales in Bach's ''
Christmas Oratorio
The ''Christmas Oratorio'' (German: ''Weihnachtsoratorium''), , is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance on one of t ...
'', BWV 248: Part
I/5 and /9
•
II/3, /8 and /14
•
III/5, /10 and /12
•
IV/7
•
V/4 and /11
•
VI/6 and /11
In chorale collections
Somewhat less than 200 of Bach's chorale harmonisations only survived in early collections containing multiple, usually short, works.
''Three Wedding Chorales'', BWV 250–252
186 four-part chorales in BGA Vol. 39, BWV 253–438
The Bach Gesellschaft published 185 four-part chorales in the 39th volume of its complete Bach-edition. The BWV 253–438 range, which, in its original collation, was based on the BGA publication does however contain 186 chorales. The difference is that BWV 279, (near-)identical to
BWV 158/4, was not retained in the BGA set:
* BGA No. 26 → "Christ lag in Todesbanden", BWV 278
* not in BGA Vol. 39: "Christ lag in Todesbanden", BWV 279 (≈BWV 158/4, in BGA Vol. 32)
* BGA No. 27 → "Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam", BWV 280
In the 1725 ''Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach''
Included in the
second ''Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach'' (started 1725):
BWV 299: "Dir, dir, Jehova, will ich singen" (included as No. 39, in both a four-part chorale version and a voice and bass version)
•
BWV 397: "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort" (included as No. 42 in a voice and bass version =
BWV 513
The title ''Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach'' (german: Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach) refers to either of two manuscript notebooks that the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach presented to his second wife, Anna Magdalena. ...
)
With a voice and bass variant in ''Schemellis Gesangbuch''
Two-part versions in ''
Schemellis Gesangbuch
Schemellis Gesangbuch (Schemelli's hymnal) is the common name of a collection of sacred songs titled ''Musicalisches Gesang-Buch'' (Musical song book) published in Leipzig in 1736 by Georg Christian Schemelli, to which Johann Sebastian Bach contr ...
'':
Four–part Realizations of Two–Part Schemelli Chorales
at No. 40 (3), BWV 447 → BWV 297
• No. 281 (18), BWV 481 → BWV 413
• No. 293 (22), BWV 499 → BWV 410
• No. 296 (23), BWV 500 ↔ BWV 500a, four-part variant in ''St Mark Passion'' pasticcio
• No. 315 (26), BWV 501 → BWV 412
• No. 320 (27), BWV 441 → BWV 441* or deest
• No. 397 (32), BWV 452 → BWV 299
• No. 488 (37), BWV 461 → BWV 320
• No. 741 (53), BWV 470 → BWV 357
• No. 779 (55), BWV 506 → BWV 424
• No. 881 (63), BWV 488 → BWV 258
• No. 894 (65), BWV 495 → BWV 405
Other four-part chorales in early manuscripts
Authenticated as Bach's after the first edition (1950) of the ''Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis'': BWV 1089: "Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund"
• BWV 1122: "Denket doch, ihr Menschenkinder"
• BWV 1123: "Wo Gott zum Haus nicht gibt sein Gunst"
• BWV 1124: "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ"
• BWV 1125: "O Gott, du frommer Gott"
• BWV 1126: "Lobet Gott, unsern Herren"
• BWV deest: "Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben"
See also
* List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal music includes cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, h ...
* List of Bach cantatas
This is a sortable list of Bach cantatas, the cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. His almost 200 extant cantatas are among his important Vocal music (Bach), vocal compositions. Many are known to be lost. Bach composed both Church cantata ...
(BWV 1–231)
* List of songs and arias of Johann Sebastian Bach
Songs and arias by Johann Sebastian Bach are compositions listed in Chapter 6 of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV 439–524), which also includes the Quodlibet. Most of the songs and arias included in this list are set for voice and continuo. Mo ...
(BWV 439–518)
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Johann Theodor Mosewius
''Johann Sebastian Bach in seinen Kirchen-Cantaten und Choralgesängen''.
Berlin: T. Trautwein, 1845.
*
Further reading
*
*
External links
Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta
The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...
"Index to Texts and Translations of Bach Cantatas and Other Vocal Works – Part 7: Chorales BWV 250–438"
*
*
September 2006; retrieved 21 May 2009.
in Capella
Capella is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Auriga. It has the Bayer designation α Aurigae, which is Latinised to Alpha Aurigae and abbreviated Alpha Aur or α Aur. Capella is the sixth-brightest star i ...
format
Sortable Index of the Chorales by J.S. Bach
at
{{Johann Sebastian Bach
Chorale harmonisations by Johann Sebastian Bach, List of