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• Prefatory Note
• Melodies
• Ach Bleib’ Bei Uns, Herr Jesu Christ.
• Ach Gott Und Herr.
• Ach Wie Fluchtig.
• Alle Menschen Mussen Sterben.
• Allein Gott In Der Hoh’ Sei Ehr’.
• An Wasserflüssen Babylon.
• Aus Tiefer Noth Schrei Ich Zu Dir.
• Christ, Der Du Bist Der Helle Tag.
• Christ Ist Erstanden.
• Christ Lag In Todesbanden.
• Christ Unser Herr Zum Jordan Kam.
• Christe, Du Lamm Gottes.
• Christum Wir Sollen Loben Schon.
• Christus, Der Uns Selig Macht.
• Da Jesus an Dem Kreuze Stund.
• Das Alte Jahr Vergangen Ist.
• Das Jesulein Soll Doch Mein Trost.
• Der Tag, Der Ist So Freudenreich.
• Dies Sind Die Heil’gen Zehn Gebot ’.
• Durch Adams Fall Ist Ganz Verderbt.
• Ein’ Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott.
• Erbarm’ Dich Mein, O Herre Gott.
• Erschienen Ist Der Herrliche Tag.
• Erstanden Ist Der Heil’ge Christ.
• Es Ist Das Heil Uns Kommen Her.
• Gelobet Seist Du, Jesu Christ.
• Gottes Sohn Ist Kommen.
• Gott, Durch Deine Güte.
• Helft Mir Gott’s Güte Preisen.
• Herr Christ, Der Ein’ge Gottes-sohn.
• Herr Gott, Nun Sei Gepreiset.
• Herr Gott Dich Loben Wir.
• Herr Gott, Nun Schleuss Den Himmel Auf.
• Herr Jesu Christ, Dich Zu Uns Wend ’.
• Herzlich Thut Mich Verlangen.
• Heut’ Triumphiret Gottes Sohn.
• Hilf Gott, Dass Mir’s Gelinge.
• Ich Hab’ Mein Sach’ Gott Heimgestellt.
• Ich Ruf’ Zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ.
• In Dich Hab’ Ich Gehoffet, Herr.
• In Dir Ist Freude.
• In Dulci Jubilo.
• Jesu, Meine Freude.
• Jesus Christus, Unser Heiland, Der Den Tod.
• Jesus Christus, Unser Heiland, Der Von Uns.
• Jesus, Meine Zuversicht.
• Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist.
• Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott.
• Kommst Du Nun, Jesu, Vom Himmel Herunter Auf Erden ?
• Kyrie, Gott Vater In Ewigkeit.
• Liebster Jesu, Wir Sind Hier.
• Lob Sei Dem Allmachtigen Gott.
• Lobt Gott, Ihr Christen Alle Gleich.
• Meine Seele Erhebt Den Herren.
• Mit Fried’ Und Freud’ Ich Fahr’ Dahin.
• Nun Danket Alle Gott.
• Nun Freut Euch, Lieben Christen G’mein.
• Es Ist Gewisslich an Der Zeit.
• Nun Komm, Der Heiden Heiland.
• O Gott, Du Frommer Gott.
• O Lamm Gottes Unschuldig.
• O Mensch, Bewein’ Dein’ Sünde Gross.
• Puer Natus In Bethlehem.
• Schmücke Dich, O Liebe Seele.
• Sei Gegrüsset, Jesu Gütig.
• Valet Will Ich Dir Geben.
• Vater Unser Im Himmelreich.
• Vom Himmel Hoch Da Komm Ich Her.
• Vom Himmel Kam Der Engel Schaar.
• Von Gott Will Ich Nicht Lassen.
• Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns Die Stimme.
• Wenn Wir In Höchsten Nothen Sein.
• Wer Nur Den Lieben Gott Lässt Walten.
• Wie Schön Leuchtet Der Morgenstern.
• Wir Christenleut ’.
• Wir Danken Dir, Herr Jesu Christ.
• Wir Glauben All’ an Einen Gott, Schöpfer.
• Wir Glauben All’ an Einen Gott, Vater
• Wo Soll Ich Fliehen Hin.

BACH’S CHORALS

PART I

THE HYMNS AND HYMN MELODIES OF THE “PASSIONS” AND MOTETTS

Pp. xvi + 74. Price 6s. 6d. net.

PART II

THE HYMNS AND HYMN MELODIES OF THE CANTATAS AND MOTETTS

Pp. xiv + 615. Price 24s. net.

“No one who is familiar with the work of other centuries will contradict or hold my statement exaggerated, that Bach cannot be named except in tones of rapture, and even of devout awe, by those who have learnt to know him. We may discover and lay bare the secrets of his technique. But his power to inspire into it the breath of genius, the perfection of life and charm that moves us so powerfully, even in his slightest works, must always remain extraordinary and insoluble.”

Johann Nikolaus Forkel.

printed in great britain

PREFATORY NOTE

In large measure English neglect of the Choral Preludes is due to unfamiliarity with the melodies and hymns on which they are founded, whereas, by reason of the intimate relation between them and Bach’s music, a knowledge of both is imperative. No adequate attempt hitherto has been made to remove this serious impediment by placing the text of the hymns before English readers, systematically exploring them for guidance to Bach’s treatment of their melodies, and expounding the form and historical antecedents of the tunes. The author believes that the following pages will be found to provide the necessary apparatus for a neglected study.

The author’s discovery of Bach’s early use of Christian Friedrich Witt’s Psalmodia sacra (1715) opens a new field of exploration and has produced important results. It has at length forced the secret of its design and purpose from the Orgelbüchlein, a problem which German scholarship, persistently and minutely concentrated on Bach’s art for more than sixty years, either neglected or found insoluble. It affords, moreover, with some approximation to accuracy, the means to date the Choral Preludes according as Bach’s version of their melodies conforms to or differs from Witt’s—i.e. Gotha-Weimar—use.

It is only necessary to add that the present volume repeats the method of its predecessors. The source of the hymns and melodies is stated: the tunes are given in their earliest published form: a translation of every hymn used by Bach is provided. Biographical and bibliographical information is furnished concerning such authors, composers, hymns, and tunes as do not occur in the earlier volumes of this work. In Part II an Appendix was provided disclosing the locus of the ms. and Autograph texts of the Oratorios, Passions, Masses, Cantatas, and Motetts. Similar information is provided here regarding the Choral Preludes.

References to the Choral Preludes are made throughout to Novello’s Edition (Books xv-xix). Owners of other Editions can easily adapt these pages to their use by means of the comparative Table provided on pages 2-11. It would have been agreeable to collate the Schirmer Edition, prepared by C. M. Widor and Albert Schweitzer: its volumes vi-viii are to contain the Choral Preludes, but are not yet published.

The present volume concludes an arduous labour. To those who have aided him by counsel and correction, and particularly his friends Sir Ivor Atkins and Dr W. G. Whittaker, the author makes his sincere acknowledgments. He cannot fail to add a note of warm gratitude to the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press for material aid towards the publication of this volume and for unfailing interest in an undertaking whose completion owes much to their encouragement.

C. S. T.

King’s College,
Old Aberdeen.
July 1921.

MELODIES

PART II

ADDENDA AND ERRATA

INTRODUCTION

The Organ Chorals

Bach’s lavish use of Lutheran hymnody has been pointed out in Part II of this work1 . One hundred and thirty-two melodies are treated by him, either in his concerted Church music or in the Organ works, without taking into account hymn tunes of which there are four-part settings among the “Choralgesänge.” Of the one hundred and thirty-two, seventy-seven are in the Organ works, twenty-eight2 of which are not used in the Cantatas, Oratorios, or Motetts. On these seventy-seven tunes Bach constructed one hundred and forty-three authentic Organ movements, or sets of movements, distributed thus: in the Orgelbüchlein 46; in Part III of the Clavierübung 17; in the Eighteen Chorals 18; in the Schübler Chorals 6; Variations or Partite 4; miscellaneous or ungrouped Preludes 52.

The following Table names the seventy-seven melodies and the one hundred and forty-three movements built upon them1 . The distinguishing capital letters have the following signification:

For convenience, page and volume references are given to the four Editions: B.G. stands for the Bachgesellschaft; B.H. for Breitkopf and Haertel; N. for Novello; P. for Peters. Elsewhere in this volume reference is given exclusively to the Novello Edition. A collation of the Peters and Novello Editions will be found at pp. 294-302 of the present writer’s Johann Sebastian Bach (Constable: 1920).

1. Ach bleib’ bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ2 .

S. 1. N. xvi. 10. B.G. xxv. (2) 71. P. vi. 4. B.H. viii. 2.

2. Ach Gott und Herr.

M. 2. N. xviii. 1. B.G. xl. 4. P. ix. 38. B.H. viii. 5.

A variant of the movement is in B.G. xl. 152.

M. 3. N. xviii. 2. B.G. xl. 5. P. vi. 3. B.H. viii. 6.

M. 4. N. xviii. 3. B.G. xl. 43. P. ix. 39. B.H. viii. 7.

3. Ach wie flüchtig3 .

O. 5. N. xv. 121. B.G. xxv. (2) 60. P. v. 2. B.H. vii. 3.

4. Alle Menschen müssen sterben.

O. 6. N. xv. 119. B.G. xxv. (2) 59. P. v. 2. B.H. vii. 4.

5. Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’.

C. 7. N. xvi. 39. B.G. iii. 197. P. vi. 10. B.H. viii. 8.

C. 8. N. xvi. 40*. B.G. iii. 199. P. vi. 12. B.H. viii. 18.

An older text is in B.G. xl. 208 and P. vi. 96.

C. 9. N. xvi. 41. B.G. iii. 205. P. vi. 29. B.H. viii. 29.

E. 10. N. xvii. 56. B.G. xxv. (2) 122. P. vi. 26. B.H. viii. 36.

E. 11. N. xvii. 60. B.G. xxv. (2) 125. P. vi. 22. B.H. viii. 24.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 180 and P. vi. 100.

E. 12. N. xvii. 66. B.G. xxv. (2) 130. P. vi. 17. B.H. viii. 30.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 183 and P. vi. 97.

M. 13. N. xviii. 4. B.G. xl. 44. B.H. viii. 11.

M. 14. N. xviii. 5. B.G. xl. 34. P. vi. 6. B.H. viii. 12.

M. 15. N. xviii. 7. B.G. xl. 45. P. vi. 30. B.H. viii. 14.

M. 16. N. xviii. 11. B.G. xl. 47. P. vi. 8. B.H. viii. 16.

A set of seventeen Variations, of doubtful genuineness, is in B.G. xl. 195.

6. An Wasserflüssen Babylon.

E. 17. N. xvii. 18. B.G. xxv. (2) 92. P. vi. 34. B.H. viii. 40.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 157 and P. vi. 103.

M. 18. N. xviii. 13. B.G. xl. 49. P. vi. 32. B.H. viii. 43.

7. Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir.

C. 19. N. xvi. 68. B.G. iii. 229. P. vi. 36. B.H. viii. 46.

C. 20. N. xvi. 72. B.G. iii. 232. P. vi. 38. B.H. viii. 48.

8. Christ, der du bist der helle Tag.

V. 21. N. xix. 36. B.G. xl. 107. P. v. 60. B.H. vii. 58.

9. Christ ist erstanden.

O. 22. N. xv. 83. B.G. xxv. (2) 40. P. v. 4. B.H. vii. 6.

A four-part setting is in B.G. xl. 173.

10. Christ lag in Todesbanden.

O. 23. N. xv. 79. B.G. xxv. (2) 38. P. v. 7. B.H. vii. 10.

M. 24. N. xviii. 16. B.G. xl. 10. P. vi. 43. B.H. viii. 51.

A variant reading is in B.G. xl. 153 and P. vi. 104.

M. 25. N. xviii. 19. B.G. xl. 52. P. vi. 40. B.H. viii. 54.

A movement of doubtful authenticity is in B.G. xl. 174 and P. ix. 56.

11. Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam.

C. 26. N. xvi. 62. B.G. iii. 224. P. vi. 46. B.H. viii. 58.

C. 27. N. xvi. 67. B.G. iii. 228. P. vi. 49. B.H. viii. 63.

12. Christe, du Lamm Gottes.

O. 28. N. xv. 61. B.G. xxv. (2) 30. P. v. 3. B.H. vii. 5.

13. Christum wir sollen loben schon.

O. 29. N. xv. 33. B.G. xxv. (2) 15. P. v. 8. B.H. vii. 11.

M. 30. N. xviii. 23. B.G. xl. 13. P. v. 9. B.H. viii. 58.

This movement has the alternative title, “Was fürcht’st du, Feind Herodes, sehr.”

14. Christus, der uns selig macht.

O. 31. N. xv. 64. B.G. xxv. (2) 30. P. v. 10. B.H. vii. 12.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 149 and P. v. 108.

15. Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund.

O. 32. N. xv. 67. B.G. xxv. (2) 32. P. v. 11. B.H. vii. 14.

16. Das alte Jahr vergangen ist.

O. 33. N. xv. 43. B.G. xxv. (2) 19. P. v. 12. B.H. vii. 15.

17. Das Jesulein soll doch mein Trost.

M. 34. N. xviii. 24. B.G. xl. 20. P. ix. 47. B.H. viii. 64.

18. Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich.

O. 35. N. xv. 18. B.G. xxv. (2) 8. P. v. 13. B.H. vii. 16.

M. 36. N. xviii. 26. B.G. xl. 55. B.H. viii. 66.

19. Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot’.

O. 37. N. xv. 103. B.G. xxv. (2) 50. P. v. 14. B.H. vii. 18.

C. 38. N. xvi. 42. B.G. iii. 206. P. vi. 50. B.H. viii. 68.

C. 39. N. xvi. 47. B.G. iii. 210. P. vi. 54. B.H. viii. 72.

20. Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt.

O. 40. N. xv. 107. B.G. xxv. (2) 53. P. v. 15. B.H. vii. 20.

M. 41. N. xviii. 28. B.G. xl. 23. P. vi. 56. B.H. viii. 74.

21. Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott.

M. 42. N. xviii. 30. B.G. xl. 57. P. vi. 58. B.H. viii. 76.

22. Erbarm’ dich mein, O Herre Gott.

M. 43. N. xviii. 35. B.G. xl. 60. B.H. viii. 80.

23. Erschienen ist der herrliche Tag.

O. 44. N. xv. 91. B.G. xxv. (2) 45. P. v. 17. B.H. vii. 21.

24. Erstanden ist der heil’ge Christ.

O. 45. N. xv. 89. B.G. xxv. (2) 44. P. v. 16. B.H. vii. 22.

25. Es ist das Heil uns kommen her.

O. 46. N. xv. 109. B.G. xxv. (2) 54. P. v. 18. B.H. vii. 23.

26. Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ.

O. 47. N. xv. 15. B.G. xxv. (2) 7. P. v. 19. B.H. vii. 24.

M. 48. N. xviii. 37. B.G. xl. 62. P. v. 102. B.H. viii. 81.

A variant is in B.G. xl. 158.

M. 49. N. xviii. 38. B.G. xl. 14. P. v. 20. B.H. viii. 82.

M. 50. N. xviii. 39. B.G. xl. 63. P. vi. 61. B.H. viii. 83.

27. Gottes Sohn ist kommen.

O. 51. N. xv. 5. B.G. xxv. (2) 4. P. v. 20. B.H. vii. 24.

To this movement Bach gives the alternative title, “Gott, durch deine Gute.”

M. 52. N. xviii. 41. B.G. xl. 21. P. v. 22. B.H. viii. 85.

M. 53. N. xviii. 42. B.G. xl. 65. P. vi. 64. B.H. viii. 86.

28. Helft mir Gott’s Gute preisen.

O. 54. N. xv. 39. B.G. xxv. (2) 18. P. v. 23. B.H. vii. 26.

29. Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn.

O. 55. N. xv. 9. B.G. xxv. (2) 5. P. v. 24. B.H. vii. 27.

To this movement Bach gives the alternative title, “Herr Gott, nun sei gepreiset.”

M. 56. N. xviii. 43. B.G. xl. 15. P. v. 25. B.H. viii. 87.

A simple four-part setting of the melody is in P. v. 107.

30. Herr Gott dich loben wir.

M. 57. N. xviii. 44. B.G. xl. 66. P. vi. 65. B.H. viii. 88.

31. Herr Gott, nun schleuss den Himmel auf.

O. 58. N. xv. 53. B.G. xxv. (2) 26. P. v. 26. B.H. vii. 28.

32. Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’.

O. 59. N. xv. 99. B.G. xxv. (2) 48. P. v. 28. B.H. vii. 30.

M. 60. N. xviii. 50. B.G. xl. 30. P. v. 28. B.H. viii. 94.

E. 61. N. xvii. 26. B.G. xxv. (2) 98. P. vi. 70. B.H. viii. 96.

P. vi. 107-8 (B.G. xxv. (2) 159, 162) prints two older readings; B.G. xxv. (2) 160 a third.

M. 62. N. xviii. 52. B.G. xl. 72. B.H. viii. 100.

33. Herzlich thut mich verlangen1 .

M. 63. N. xviii. 53. B.G. xl. 73. P. v. 30. B.H. viii. 100.

34. Heut’ triumphiret Gottes Sohn.

O. 64. N. xv. 94. B.G. xxv. (2) 46. P. v. 30. B.H. vii. 31.

35. Hilf Gott, dass mir’s gelinge.

O. 65. N. xv. 76. B.G. xxv. (2) 36. P. v. 32. B.H. vii. 32.

36. Ich hab’ mein Sach’ Gott heimgestellt.

M. 66. N. xviii. 54. B.G. xl. 26. P. vi. 74. B.H. viii. 102.

M. 67. N. xviii. 58. B.G. xl. 30, 152. B.H. viii. 106.

37. Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ.

O. 68. N. xv. 111. B.G. xxv. (2) 55. P. v. 33. B.H. vii. 34.

38, 39. In dich hab’ ich gehoffet, Herr.

O. 69. N. xv. 113. B.G. xxv. (2) 56. P. v. 35. B.H. vii. 36.

On an anonymous melody dating from 1560.

M. 70. N. xviii. 59. B.G. xl. 36. P. vi. 94. B.H. viii. 107.

On a melody by Seth Calvisius, 1581.

40. In dir ist Freude.

O. 71. N. xv. 45. B.G. xxv. (2) 20. P. v. 36. B.H. vii. 37.

41. In dulci jubilo.

O. 72. N. xv. 26. B.G. xxv. (2) 12. P. v. 38. B.H. vii. 40.

M. 73. N. xviii. 61. B.G. xl. 74. P. v. 103. B.H. viii. 109.

A so-called variant is in B.G. xl. 158.

42. Jesu, meine Freude.

O. 74. N. xv. 31. B.G. xxv. (2) 14. P. v. 34. B.H. vii. 35.

M. 75. N. xviii. 64. B.G. xl. 38. P. vi. 78. B.H. viii. 111.

A variant text is in B.G. xl. 155 and P. vi. 110.

A fragment is in B.G. xl. 163 and P. v. 112.

43. Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, Der den Tod.

O. 76. N. xv. 81. B.G. xxv. (2) 39. P. v. 34. B.H. vii. 36.

44. Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, Der von uns.

C. 77. N. xvi. 74. B.G. iii. 234. P. vi. 82. B.H. viii. 116.

C. 78. N. xvi. 80. B.G. iii. 239. P. vi. 92. B.H. viii. 128.

E. 79. N. xvii. 74. B.G. xxv. (2) 136. P. vi. 87. B.H. viii. 122.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 188 and P. vi. 112.

E. 80. N. xvii. 79. B.G. xxv. (2) 140. P. vi. 90. B.H. viii. 126.

45. Jesus, meine Zuversicht.

M. 81. N. xviii. 69. B.G. xl. 74. P. v. 103. B.H. viii. 130.

46. Komm, Gott, Schopfer, heiliger Geist.

O. 82. N. xv. 97. B.G. xxv. (2) 47. P. vii. 86 (B). B.H. vii. 41.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 150 and P. vii. 86 (A).

E. 83. N. xvii. 82. B.G. xxv. (2) 142. P. vii. 2. B.H. ix. 2.

47. Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott.

E. 84. N. xvii. 1. B.G. xxv. (2) 79. P. vii. 4. B.H. ix. 5.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 151 and P. vii. 86.

E. 85. N. xvii. 10. B.G. xxv. (2) 86. P. vii. 10. B.H. ix. 12.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 153 and P. vii. 88.

48. Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter1 .

S. 86. N. xvi. 14. B.G. xxv. (2) 74. P. vii. 16. B.H. ix. 18.

49. Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit.

C. 87. N. xvi. 28. B.G. iii. 184. P. vii. 18. B.H. ix. 26.

C. 88. N. xvi. 36. B.G. iii. 194. P. vii. 26. B.H. ix. 22.

50. Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier.

O. 89. B.G. xxv. (2) 49. P. v. 109. B.H. vii. 42 (31).

O. 90. N. xv. 101. B.G. xxv. (2) 50. P. v. 40. B.H. vii. 42 (32).

M. 91. N. xviii. 70. B.G. xl. 76. P. v. 105. B.H. ix. 36.

M. 92. N. xviii. 71. B.G. xl. 77. P. v. 105. B.H. ix. 37.

M. 93. N. xviii. 72. B.G. xl. 25. P. v. 39. B.H. ix. 38 (part only).

51. Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott.

O. 94. N. xv. 11. B.G. xxv. (2) 6. P. v. 40. B.H. vii. 42.

M. 95. N. xviii. 73. B.G. xl. 22. P. v. 41. B.H. ix. 38.

52. Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, alle gleich.

O. 96. N. xv. 29. B.G. xxv. (2) 13. P. v. 42. B.H. vii. 43.

M. 97. N. xviii. 74. B.G. xl. 78. P. v. 106. B.H. ix. 39.

A variant is in B.G. xl. 159.

53. Meine Seele erhebt den Herren.

S. 98. N. xvi. 8. B.G. xxv. (2) 70. P. vii. 33. B.H. ix. 44.

M. 99. N. xviii. 75. B.G. xl. 79. P. vii. 29. B.H. ix. 40.

54. Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr’ dahin.

O. 100. N. xv. 50. B.G. xxv. (2) 24. P. v. 42. B.H. vii. 44.

55. Nun danket alle Gott.

E. 101. N. xvii. 40. B.G. xxv. (2) 108. P. vii. 34. B.H. ix. 46.

56. Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein.

M. 102. N. xviii. 80. B.G. xl. 84. P. vii. 36. B.H. ix. 50.

The movement bears the alternative title, “Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit.”

A variant is in B.G. xl. 160 and P. vii. 91.

57. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland.

O. 103. N. xv. 3. B.G. xxv. (2) 3. P. v. 44. B.H. vii. 45.

E. 104. N. xvii. 46. B.G. xxv. (2) 114. P. vii. 38. B.H. ix. 52.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 172 and P. vii. 92.

E. 105. N. xvii. 49. B.G. xxv. (2) 116. P. vii. 40. B.H. ix. 55.

Two older texts are in B.G. xxv. (2) 174, 176, and P. vii. 93, 94.

E. 106. N. xvii. 52. B.G. xxv. (2) 118. P. vii. 42. B.H. ix. 58.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 178 and P. vii. 96.

M. 107. N. xviii. 83. B.G. xl. 16. P. v. 45. B.H. ix. 61.

58. O Gott, du frommer Gott.

V. 108. N. xix. 44. B.G. xl. 114. P. v. 68. B.H. vii. 66.

59. O Lamm Gottes unschuldig.

O. 109. N. xv. 58. B.G. xxv. (2) 28. P. v. 46. B.H. vii. 46.

E. 110. N. xvii. 32. B.G. xxv. (2) 102. P. vii. 45. B.H. ix. 62.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 166 and P. vii. 97.

60. O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross1 .

O. 111. N. xv. 69. B.G. xxv. (2) 33. P. v. 48. B.H. vii. 48.

61. Puer natus in Bethlehem (ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem).

O. 112. N. xv. 13. B.G. xxv. (2) 6. P. v. 50. B.H. vii. 50.

62. Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele.

E. 113. N. xvii. 22. B.G. xxv. (2) 95. P. vii. 50. B.H. ix. 68.

A movement of doubtful authenticity (attributed to G. A. Homilius) is in B.G. xl. 181.

63. Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig.

V. 114. N. xix. 55. B.G. xl. 122. P. v. 76. B.H. vii. 75.

64. Valet will ich dir geben.

M. 115. N. xix. 2. B.G. xl. 86. P. vii. 53. B.H. ix. 71.

An older text is in B.G. xl. 161 and P. vii. 100.

M. 116. N. xix. 7. B.G. xl. 90. P. vii. 56. B.H. ix. 76.

65. Vater unser im Himmelreich.

O. 117. N. xv. 105. B.G. xxv. (2) 52. P. v. 52. B.H. vii. 51.

C. 118. N. xvi. 53. B.G. iii. 217. P. vii. 60. B.H. ix. 82.

C. 119. N. xvi. 61. B.G. ii. 223. P. v. 51. B.H. ix. 88.

A variant reading is in P. v. 109.

M. 120. N. xix. 12. B.G. xl. 96. P. vii. 66. B.H. ix. 80.

Two doubtfully authentic movements are in B.G. xl. 183, 184. They are both attributed to Georg Böhm.

66. Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her.

O. 121. N. xv. 21. B.G. xxv. (2) 9. P. v. 53. B.H. vii. 52.

M. 122. N. xix. 14. B.G. xl. 19. P. vii. 67. B.H. ix. 88.

M. 123. N. xix. 16. B.G. xl. 17. P. vii. 68. B.H. ix. 90.

M. 124. N. xix. 19. B.G. xl. 97. P. v. 106. B.H. ix. 92.

A variant is in B.G. xl. 159.

V. 125. N. xix. 73. B.G. xl. 137. P. v. 92. B.H. vii. 92.

67. Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schaar.

O. 126. N. xv. 23. B.G. xxv. (2) 10. P. v. 54. B.H. vii. 52.

68. Von Gott will ich nicht lassen.

E. 127. N. xvii. 43. B.G. xxv. (2) 112. P. vii. 70. B.H. ix. 94.

An older text is in B.G. xxv. (2) 170 and P. vii. 102.

69. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme.

S. 128. N. xvi. 1. B.G. xxv. (2) 63. P. vii. 72. B.H. ix. 96.

70. Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein1 .

O. 129. N. xv. 115. B.G. xxv. (2) 57. P. v. 55. B.H. vii. 54.

E. 130. N. xvii. 85. B.G. xxv. (2) 145. P. vii. 74. B.H. ix. 98.

To the movement Bach gives the alternative title, “Vor deinen Thron tret’ ich.”

71. Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten.

O. 131. N. xv. 117. B.G. xxv. (2) 58. P. v. 57. B.H. vii. 55.

S. 132. N. xvi. 6. B.G. xxv. (2) 68. P. vii. 76. B.H. ix. 100.

M. 133. N. xix. 21. B.G. xl. 3. P. v. 56 (53). B.H. ix. 102.

M. 134. N. xix. 22. B.G. xl. 4. P. v. 56 (52). B.H. ix. 103.

A variant is in B.G. xl. 151 and P. v. 111.

72. Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern.

M. 135. N. xix. 23. B.G. xl. 99. B.H. ix. 103.

A fragment is in B.G. xl. 164.

73. Wir Christenleut’.

O. 136. N. xv. 36. B.G. xxv. (2) 16. P. v. 58. B.H. vii. 56.

M. 137. N. xix. 28. B.G. xl. 32. P. ix. 52. B.H. ix. 108.

74. Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ.

O. 138. N. xv. 73. B.G. xxv. (2) 35. P. v. 59. B.H. vii. 57.

75. Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, Schöpfer.

C. 139. N. xvi. 49. B.G. iii. 212. P. vii. 78. B.H. ix. 110.

C. 140. N. xvi. 52. B.G. iii. 216. P. vii. 81. B.H. ix. 113.

A movement confidently attributed to Bach is in B.G. xl. 187 and P. ix. 40.

76. Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, Vater.

M. 141. N. xix. 30. B.G. xl. 103. P. vii. 82. B.H. ix. 114.

77. Wo soll ich fliehen hin.

S. 142. N. xvi. 4. B.G. xxv. (2) 66. P. vii. 84. B.H. ix. 116.

This movement has the alternative title, “Auf meinen lieben Gott,” the more correct style of the melody.

M. 143. N. xix. 32. B.G. xl. 6. P. ix. 48. B.H. ix. 118.

A movement of doubtful authenticity is in B.G. xl. 170 and P. ix. 39.

In addition to the foregoing, B.G. xl contains an Appendix of doubtful or incomplete movements (see page 346 infra). They are as follows:

Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh’ darein.

B.G. xl. 167 and P. ix. 44.

The basis of the movement appears to be Bach’s work Completed by another hand.

Ach, was soll ich Sünder machen.

B.G. xl. 189.

A set of Variations, youthful if genuine.

Aus der Tiefe rufe ich.

B.G. xl. 171 and P. ix. 54.

Possibly an early work.

Gott der Vater wohn’ uns bei.

B.G. xl. 177, N. xiii. 153, and P. vi. 62.

A variant is in P. vi. 106. Spitta attributes the movement to Johann Gottfried Walther.

O Vater, allmachtiger Gott.

B.G. xl. 179.

Perhaps an early work.

Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod.

A movement on the melody is in P. ix. 52.

The Texts

Towards the end of his life Bach published the Catechism Chorals, Prelude and Fugue in E flat, and four Duetti, in Part III of the Clavierübung; the six Schubler Chorals: the Art of Fugue; the Musical Offering; and the Variations on “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her.” The rest of his Organ works remained in ms. When he died, in 1750, presumably they were intact. To-day only about one-third of his Organ music survives in his handwriting1 . The remainder has been printed from copies made by his pupils and others.

Bach’s Autographs of the Orgelbuchlein and the Eighteen Chorals are in the Konigliche Bibliothek, Berlin. The Schübler and Clavierübung Chorals and “Vom Himmel” Variations were in print before his death. It is therefore in regard to the miscellaneous or ungrouped Choral movements only that dubiety exists regarding the source of the published texts.

Bach’s Organ Chorals were first edited by Friedrich Conrad Griepenkerl and Ferdinand Roitzsch for C. F. Peters, of Leipzig, who included them in his Edition of Bach’s Organ Works (vols. v, vi, vii, ix) in 1846-47-81. In 1893 Ernst Naumann edited a larger collection of them for the Bachgesellschaft (Jahrgang xl). Nine years later (1902) the same editor included most of them in Breitkopf and Haertel’s Edition. To the contents of the latter collection the Novello Edition (1916) makes no addition.

B.G. xl contains 52 miscellaneous (ungrouped) Preludes, 4 sets of Variations or Partite, 13 Variant texts or fragments, and 13 movements of doubtful authenticity, a total of 82 numbers. In the Peters Edition Griepenkerl already had printed 62 of them. Breitkopf and Haertel included 56 of them in their Edition. The Novello Edition contains the same number.

Of the 82 numbers printed in B.G. xl only four are in Bach’s Autograph: “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten” (N. xix. 22), “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” (N. xix. 23), a fragment on the latter melody (B.G. xl. 164), and the “Vom Himmel hoch” Variations. The remaining seventy-eight compositions come to us through mss. written by other hands than Bach’s1 .

By far the greater number of the mss. of Bach’s miscellaneous Organ works are in public institutions. The richest in mss. is the Konigliche Bibliothek, Berlin, which, since Griepenkerl prepared the Peters Edition, has absorbed a good deal of the material then in private hands. The Amalienbibliothek (Princess Amalia Library) in the Joachimsthal Gymnasium, Berlin; Mozartstiftung (Mozart Institution), Frankfort a. Main; Stadtbibliothek (Municipal Library), Leipzig; and the Universitätsbibliothek (University Library), Königsberg, also contain valuable collections of Bach mss.

In the Königliche Bibliothek are Bach’s Autographs of the Orgelbüchlein, Anna Magdalena’s Clavierbüchlein (1722), Notenbuch (1725), W. F. Bach’s Clavierbüchlein (1720), the “Vom Himmel hoch” Variations, and the Eighteen “Great” Preludes. It possesses also the collection of Count Voss of Berlin, who purchased from Bach’s eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, a large number of his father’s mss.1 ; the collection of Rudolf Westphal, a well-known writer on Bach2 ; Professor Fischhof’s Bequest3 ; an important collection made by Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749-1818), Director of Music in the University of Göttingen, author of the first “Life” of Bach (1802)1 ; the “Sammelbuch” or “Sammelband” of Johann Ludwig Krebs (b. 1713), a student at the Leipzig Thomasschule under Bach from 1726 to 17352 ; a collection of Bach’s Organ compositions made by his last pupil, Johann Christian Kittel, organist at Erfurt (d. 1809), in a copy made by Herr Grasnick3 ; copies of Bach’s Organ works made by Johann Peter Kellner, a pupil of Bach’s contemporary Johann Schmidt4 .

The Amalienbibliothek of Bach’s works, made by Princess Anna Amalia, sister of Frederick the Great, passed, after her death in 1787, into the possession of the Joachimsthal Gymnasium, Berlin. It contains a collection of 24 Choralvorspiele of Bach’s5 , made by Johann Philipp Kirnberger, who was born at Saalfeld in Thuringia in 1721, was Bach’s pupil at Leipzig from 1739-41, and eventually became Court musician to Princess Amalia of Prussia6 .

In the Mozartstiftung at Frankfort a. Main is the Schelble collection of “140 variirte Choräle von Joh. Sebastian Bach,” among which are many spurious movements. In 1846 it was in the possession of Herr Gleichauf1 . It was made by Johann Nepomuk Schelble (1789-1837), founder of the Frankfort Caecilienverein and one of the earliest Bach conductors2 .

The Leipzig Stadtbibliothek contains the Bequest of Carl Ferdinand Becker (1804-77), editor of the Choralgesänge and Professor of the Organ in the Leipzig Conservatorium.

In the Königsberg Universitätsbibliothek is a collection of Organ Chorals made by Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748), Bach’s contemporary at Weimar3 ; and also the Gotthold Bequest.

Of private collections the most important is that of Herr Kämmersinger Joseph Hauser, of Carlsruhe. It was largely used by Griepenkerl in 1846, when it was in the possession of the singer Franz Hauser (1794-1870), a friend of Mendelssohn and an avid Bach collector4 . Included in the collection is a volume of “50 variirte und fugirte Choräle” in the handwriting of Johann Christoph Oley, organist at Aschersleben (d. 1789), and a ms. “Der anfahende Organist” in the handwriting of Herr Dröbs, a pupil of J. C. Kittel, which contains Organ movements by Bach.

Philipp Spitta, Bach’s biographer, possessed a large collection of Bach mss. which he placed at the disposal of the Bachgesellschaft in 1893. It contained the collection of Friedrich Wilhelm Rust, of Dresden (1739-96), grandfather of the prolific editor of the Bachgesellschaft’s volumes1 ; a collection of Organ movements made by Johann Gottfried Walther of Weimar, at one time in the possession of Herr Frankenberger, Director of Music at Sondershausen; a ms. “Verschiedene variirte Choräle von den besten Meistern älterer Zeit” made by Michael Gotthardt Fischer and dated 1793; a collection of Organ Chorals made by Bach’s uncle Johann Christoph Bach, organist at Eisenach; and a collection of J. S. Bach’s “variirten und fugirten Chorälen vor 1 und 2 Claviere und Pedal,” made by Johann Gottfried Schicht (1753-1823), Cantor of St Thomas’, Leipzig (1810-23), through whose influence the Motetts were published by Breitkopf and Haertel in 18032 .

Other collections drawn upon in 1846 and 1893 were those of the publishers Breitkopf and Haertel; S. W. Dehn (1799-1858), sometime Keeper of the Department of Music in the Königliche Bibliothek3 ; and Christian Friedrich Schwenke (1767-1822), successor to Philipp Emmanuel Bach at Hamburg and an industrious Bach collector1 .

Finally must be mentioned an important ms. once in the possession of Bach’s first cousin, Andreas Bach (b. 1713), which contains fourteen of Sebastian’s Organ Preludes, including the Choral “Göttes Sohn ist kommen” (N. xviii. 42)2 .

In the following pages the derivation of the miscellaneous Preludes from the ms. sources named in this section is indicated.

The “Orgelbüchlein”

The Autograph of the Orgelbüchlein is in the Royal Library, Berlin. It is a small quarto of ninety-two sheets bound in paper boards, with leather back and corners, and bears the following title:

According to the title-page, the Autograph was written at a time when Bach could describe himself as “pro tempore” in the service of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. His appointment to Cöthen was dated August 1, 17171 , though he did not enter upon his duties until Christmas 17172 . To that date he held the positions of Concertmeister and Court Organist at Weimar, where the death of the Capellmeister, Johann Samuel Drese, in 1716, had opened the prospect of obtaining that vacant post. When it was given to Drese’s son, Bach resolved to push his fortunes elsewhere, and, still bound to Weimar, accepted the Cöthen post in the summer of 1717. A petition for release from his Weimar duties was rejected. On November 6, 1717, he was placed under arrest “for obstinately insisting that his resignation should be accepted at once,” and remained in confinement for a month. He was not released until December 2, 1717, when he was permitted at length to resign his Weimar appointments3 .

“As may be seen by the title-page,” writes Spitta1 , the Orgelbüchlein was “written at Cöthen.” The conclusion has been adopted by later writers and is accepted in the Novello Edition. It does not survive examination, however. Bach describes himself on the title-page as “pro tempore” in the service of Cöthen. Spitta explains the phrase as Bach’s manner of stating the fact, that though the Autograph was written at Cöthen, its contents had been composed at Weimar. But, surely, if that was Bach’s intention, it would have been more natural to state on the title-page (which, after all, was not written for publication) the earlier position he had since vacated. In other words, writing at Cöthen, as Spitta supposes, we should expect Bach to call himself “sometime Concertmeister to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar.”

If Spitta’s conclusion is discarded and the Autograph’s construction at Weimar is assumed, the puzzling phrase “pro tempore” falls in smoothly with the facts known to us. Between August 1 and December 2, 1717, Bach was by appointment Capellmeister to His Highness of Anhalt-Cöthen. But as his Weimar master refused to release him from service and even put him in prison for begging his resignation, Bach might reasonably describe as “pro tempore” an appointment which seemed little likely to become permanent. The conclusion may be stated with confidence, that the Autograph of the Orgelbüchlein was written at Weimar between August 1 and December 2, 1717.

It is possible to be more precise. As will be shown, the scheme of the Orgelbüchlein can have been in Bach’s mind since the autumn of 1715, but can hardly have been formed earlier. As to three-quarters of its programme the Orgelbuchlein is incomplete, and most of it was of little practical use to a Church organist. The scheme of the work, and Bach’s complete neglect of it in after years, support the conclusion that it was undertaken in a period of leisure and under an immediate impulse of enthusiasm. We are drawn, therefore, to search for a period of exceptional leisure in which Bach was free to sketch and partly write a lengthy work which in after years he never attempted to complete. Such a period presented itself during his incarceration at Weimar in November 1717, and during those weeks, it may be concluded, the Autograph was written.

But the date of the Autograph does not consequently determine the year in which all its forty-six completed movements were composed. Rust’s conclusion, in the B.G. Edition of the Orgelbüchlein1 , that they cannot have been composed earlier than the Cöthen period (1718-23) is already disproved. Spitta1 gives convincing grounds for the conclusion that they were not composed at Cöthen, where Bach had neither an adequate instrument nor duties as an organist, but at Weimar (1708-17), where both incentives existed. For he demonstrates clearly that the Autograph is not the earliest text of the movements it contains. Felix Mendelssohn possessed a ms. in Bach’s hand which contained twenty-six, and probably thirty-eight, of its forty-six completed movements. Indeed, Spitta makes out a strong case for the belief that the Mendelssohn ms. itself is a transcript of a still earlier text. It must therefore be concluded that the completed movements of the Orgelbüchlein were composed during Bach’s residence at Weimar, 1708-17, between his twenty-third and thirty-third years, and assumed their final shape in the Autograph written in November 1717.

Other than the Autograph, no complete copy of the Orgelbüchlein exists. But of its separate movements so large a number of mss. is found as to testify to their vogue among Bach’s pupils and contemporaries.

The fullest collection of them, after the Autograph, is in Kirnberger’s hand; in 1878 it was in the possession of Professor Wagener of Marburg, whose collection is in the Royal Library, Berlin. The collection contains all the completed (forty-six) movements except the first “Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier1 ” and “Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist.”

A smaller collection, revised by Bach himself, which contains “Gottes Sohn ist kommen,” “Christ lag in Todesbanden,” “Vater unser im Himmelreich,” “Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein,” and “Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig,” was in 1878 in the possession of Wilhelm Rust, who acquired it from his grandfather, F. W. Rust.

Copies of six movements, “Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn,” “O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross,” “Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt,” “Es ist das Heil uns kommen her,” “Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” and “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten,” originally belonging to Bach’s pupil Krebs, were in the possession of Court Organist Reichardt in 1846 and of Herr Ferdinand Roitzsch of Leipzig in 1878.

The Royal Library, Berlin, possesses copies of eight of the movements in the handwriting of Johann Gottfried Walther, Organist of the Town Church at Weimar during Bach’s residence there: “Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott,” “Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ,” “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her,” “Jesu, meine Freude,” “Das alte Jahr vergangen ist,” “Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr’ dahin,” “Herr Gott, nun schleuss den Himmel auf,” and “Heut’ triumphiret Gottes Sohn.”

MSS. of “Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn” and “Es ist das Heil uns kommen her” are in a collection of Choral arrangements made by Walther of Weimar, in the possession (1878) of Herr Frankenberger, Director of Music at Sondershausen.

Twenty-eight of the Preludes, in the handwriting of Johann Christoph Oley, organist at Aschersleben (d. 1789), are in the Hauser Collection: “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,” “Gottes Sohn ist kommen,” “Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn,” “Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott,” “Puer natus in Bethlehem,” “Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ,” “Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich,” “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her,” “In dulci jubilo,” “Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, alle gleich,” “Jesu, meine Freude,” “Christum wir sollen loben schon,” “Wir Christenleut’,” “In dir ist Freude,” “Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr’ dahin,” “Christe, du Lamm Gottes,” “Christus, der uns selig macht,” “O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross,” “Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” “Hilf Gott, dass mir’s gelinge,” “Christ ist erstanden,” “Erstanden ist der heil’ge Christ,” “Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist,” “Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’,” “In dich hab’ ich gehoffet, Herr,” “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein,” “Alle Menschen müssen sterben,” and “Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig.”

An old ms. of twelve of the Preludes is in the University Library, Königsberg: “Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn,” “Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott,” “Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ,” “Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, alle gleich,” “Jesu, meine Freude,” “Wir Christenleut’,” “Christe, du Lamm Gottes,” “Erschienen ist der herrliche Tag,” “Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier” (distinctius), “Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” “In dich hab’ ich gehoffet, Herr,” and “Alle Menschen müssen sterben.”

Griepenkerl mentions (1846) other copies by Dröbs, Oley, and Schelble.

Hence, apart from the Mendelssohn Autograph and Kirnberger’s ms., the only Preludes in the Orgelbüchlein not found in closely contemporary texts are “Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund,” “Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot’,” “Helft mir Gott’s Güte preisen,” “Jesus Christus, unser Heiland” (both), “O Lamm Gottes unschuldig,” and “Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schaar.”

Mendelssohn’s ms. contained twenty-six of the Preludes: “Das alte Jahr vergangen ist,” “In dir ist Freude,” “Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr’ dahin,” “Christe, du Lamm Gottes,” “O Lamm Gottes unschuldig,” “Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund,” “O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross,” “Christus, der uns selig macht,” “Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” “Hilf Gott, dass mir’s gelinge,” “Herr Gott, nun schleuss den Himmel auf,” “Christ lag in Todesbanden,” “Jesus Christus, unser Heiland,” “Christ ist erstanden,” “Erstanden ist der heil’ge Christ,” “Heut’ triumphiret Gottes Sohn,” “Erschienen ist der herrliche Tag,” “Es ist das Heil uns kommen her,” “Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” “In dich hab’ ich gehoffet, Herr” (alio modo), “Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier” (distinctius), “Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot’,” “Vater unser im Himmelreich,” “Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt,” “Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist,” and “Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’.” The last six movements Mendelssohn detached (three leaves) from the ms. and gave to his wife and Madame Clara Schumann. In 1880 the first two of the three leaves were in the possession of the wife of Professor Wach, Leipzig. The last was in that year in Madame Schumann’s keeping1 .

The ninety-two sheets of the Autograph were planned by Bach to contain 164 movements upon the melodies of 161 hymns; three hymns (Nos. 50-1, 97-8, 130-1) being represented by two movements in each case. Of the 164 projected movements only forty-six were written, two of them (Nos. 50-1) to the same melody (“Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier”). A fragment (two bars) of a forty-seventh movement, upon Johann Rist’s hymn, “O Traurigkeit, O Herzeleid,” was inserted:

The pages of the Autograph, other than those which contain the completed movements, are merely inscribed with the names of the hymns whose melodies Bach proposed to place upon them. Hence, the Orgelbüchlein contains forty-six Preludes and the titles of 118 unwritten ones. Why did Bach fail to complete a work conceived, as the title-page bears witness, in so lofty a spirit? Schweitzer suggests1 that the unused tunes lack the opportunities for poetic and pictorial expression that Bach required. If so, it is strange that 116 of the 161 hymns selected by Bach himself should be of that character. In fact, as Mr Newman points out in the Preface to the Novello Edition, Schweitzer’s hypothesis is not sound. Many of the unused tunes in the Orgelbuchlein are as capable of poetic and pictorial treatment as those Bach actually used there. Moreover elsewhere he has given some of them precisely the expression of which Schweitzer assumes them to be incapable.

The true reason for Bach’s failure to complete the Orgelbüchlein is found in the character of that work. Whatever may have been the circumstances that moved him to plan it and partially to write it, no practical incentive to its completion can be discovered. If, as has been asserted, Bach designed it as an exercise for his youthful son Friedemann, its forty-six completed movements were at least adequate as an Organ “tutor.” As a Church organist, the completed portion of it alone was of practical use to Bach himself. To establish the statement it is necessary to examine the contents of the Autograph.

When Griepenkerl edited the Orgelbüchlein in 1846 he suppressed all reference to the movements Bach projected but did not write, and—a more serious fault—printed the completed movements in alphabetical order, alleging, with consummate audacity, that “Bach himself attached no value to the order of succession”! On the contrary, Bach wrote the hymns into the Autograph in accordance with a carefully thought-out programme, which, however, he left concealed. The order in which the hymns appear in the Autograph is the only clue to it. In 1878 Rust pointed out, in the Preface to the Bachgesellschaft’s Edition, that “the Chorals of the Orgelbüchlein are in the order of the Church’s year.” But Rust’s analysis probed no deeper than the early movements and is inaccurate for the rest.

In the Musical Times of January 1917 the present writer exposed for the first time the complete scheme Bach had in mind in the Orgelbüchlein. He was able later to point out1 that Bach modelled it upon a Hymn-book issued in November 1715 for the neighbouring duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, edited by Christian Friedrich Witt (d. 1716), Capellmeister at Gotha. It bears the title:

A copy of the book in the British Museum has another title (Neues Cantional: Gotha and Leipzig, 1715), but its contents are identical with the Gotha publication.

A collation of the Autograph and Witt’s Hymn-book shows that the latter provided Bach with 159 of the 161 hymns the Orgelbüchlein names. Nos. 6 and 83 of the Orgelbuchlein are not in Witt. Whence Bach took them cannot be stated and is immaterial; both were accessible in other collections. The Orgelbuchlein, in fact, is a condensed Hymnary and, for convenience, may be divided into two Parts. The first, and shorter, Part follows the seasons and festivals of the Church’s year, with one apparent omission. The second Part, almost wholly incomplete, contains hymns arranged in groups that conform to the divisions customary in Hymn-books of Bach’s period. Part I was planned to contain sixty Preludes, of which thirty-six were composed. Part II was designed to include one hundred and four Preludes, of which only ten were written. Five of its eleven groups contain not a single completed movement; one contains three; two contain two apiece; three contain one apiece.

The complete scheme of the Orgelbüchlein is set out hereunder, with notes upon the hymns and melodies Bach proposed to use. The hymns are named in the order in which Bach wrote them into the Autograph, and are grouped under the seasons or headings he intended them to illustrate but neglected to indicate. In order to show the close correspondence between the Orgelbüchlein and Witt’s Hymn-book, the latter’s group-headings are printed alongside those supplied to Bach’s scheme, the figures in brackets stating the numbers of the hymns in Witt’s corresponding group and revealing the extent to which Bach drew upon them. Similarly the numerical order of the hymns in the Orgelbüchlein is annotated by an indication of their position in Witt’s book. Titles in capitals indicate the forty-six completed movements of the Orgelbüchlein. Unless the contrary is stated, Witt’s and Bach’s tunes are identical1 .

Part I.

CHURCH SEASONS AND FESTIVALS.

* Bach uses the melody elsewhere in his concerted Church music or Organ works.

† A four-part setting of the melody is among the Choralgesange.

Advent     Advents-Lieder (3-17).

*1 (4) Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland.

*†2 (5) Gottes Sohn ist kommen, or, Gott, durch deine Güte. (In Canone all’ Ottava, a 2 Clav. e Pedale.)

*3 (17) Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn, or, Herr Gott nun sei gepreiset.

*4 (15) Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott.

In Witt the hymn is set to the tune of No. 9 infra.

The Advent section calls for no comment. Bach selects from Witt four of his fifteen hymns on the season, altering the order of one, No. 4 (15), in order to end upon a note of joy in the approaching Incarnation. The other hymns invoke the coming Saviour.

Bach arranges the Christmas hymns in an order different from Witt’s. The result is to transform a haphazard series of tunes into a Christmas Mystery. No. 5 announces the Incarnation and describes the homage of the Wise Men. Nos. 6 and 7 are acts of praise and thanksgiving for the Nativity. In No. 8 the Angels give the glad tidings to the shepherds. Nos. 9 and 10 picture the Manger at Bethlehem. In No. 11 we listen to the Angels’ carol there. The next three hymns are songs of thanksgiving; the second of them (No. 13), transferred from another section of Witt’s Hymn-book, being an act of intimate personal homage, very characteristic of Bach. The inversion of Witt’s order for the last two hymns is intentional. “Wir Christenleut’ ” summarizes the lesson of the Christmas season—he who stands steadfast on the fact of the Incarnation shall never be confounded. On that note Bach prefers to end.

The three hymns follow Witt’s order. The first two look back upon the old year. The third is instinct with the hope and promise of the new one.

Bach omits, or appears to omit, the Epiphany (Witt, Nos. 73-77), which falls between the New Year and the Feast of the Purification. No. 19, however, is in modern use as an Epiphany hymn, and No. 20, which recalls the Song of Simeon, is not less appropriate. Probably Bach intended the two hymns to do duty for both contiguous festivals.

In the Passiontide section Bach entirely discards Witt’s order and follows the stages of the great tragedy in their sequence. The first three hymns call us to Calvary. No. 24 stations us before the Cross. No. 25 challenges mankind to own its guilt in Christ’s martyrdom. No. 26, in another mood, gives thanks for the approaching Atonement. In No. 27, a long ballad of the Passion, the death and sufferings of the Saviour are consummated. No. 28 is a passionate invocation of the pierced Hands, Feet, and Side. No. 29 is sung at the Saviour’s burial. Christ being dead, Bach hastens to utter (No. 30) a fervent song of faith, followed by two hymns of remorse and self-accusation. No. 33 leaves the Saviour sleeping in the Tomb. The section is a miniature of the greater Passion written twelve years later.

The Easter section closely follows Witt’s order. Bach begins it with introductory hymns (Nos. 34-36) which summon us to the festival. The last two hymns are songs of triumph, “Heut’ triumphiret” being placed out of Witt’s order so as to end on the thought of Death conquered. The centre of the section is held by “Erstanden ist der heil’ge Christ,” a dialogue between the Virgin Mary and the Angel at the Tomb, which states the circumstances of the Resurrection, the central thought of the festival.

The Trinity section contains six numbers, of which only the last three hymns are found in Witt’s Trinity group. Nos. 49 and 50 are taken by Bach from Witt’s “Vor der Predigt” (Before the Sermon) section. That Bach intended them for Trinity use is to be inferred from the irrelevance of a general “Before the Sermon” group of hymns between the Whitsuntide and Trinity sections. In regard to No. 49 it is not improbable that local use at Weimar attached it to Trinity, to whose season it is generally relevant. The hymn is attributed to a former Duke of Saxe-Weimar. Its fourth stanza is appropriate to the season:

• To God the Father, God the Son,
• And God the Spirit Three in One,
• Be honour, praise, and glory given
• By all on earth, and Saints in Heaven.

No. 50 acquires a Trinity significance through its second stanza:

• All our knowledge, sense, and sight
• Lie in deepest darkness shrouded,
• Till Thy Spirit breaks our night
• With the beams of truth unclouded.

The strongest reason for believing that Bach intended both hymns to be attached to the Trinity group is in the fact that he copied into the Autograph two movements upon the second hymn, “Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier,” which differ so little textually that it is impossible to suppose his reason for duplicating the tune to have been a musical one. Witt, in fact, only offered two hymns, whereas Bach’s attention to symbolism moved him to pay separate homage to the three Persons of the Trinity. The regular Trinity hymns (Nos. 52-54) also are three in number.

Bach omits the Annunciation. Six hymns for that festival are in Witt (Nos. 84-89).

Part II.

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

The Ten Commandments     Von den zehen Geboten (221-225).

*†61 (222) Dies sind die heil’gen zehen Gebot’.

62 (221) Mensch, willst du leben seliglich.

The hymn is by Luther. In Witt it is directed to be sung to the melody “Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot’.” As Bach uses the latter in No. 61 supra, presumably he had in mind the proper (1524) melody of the hymn (Zahn, No. 1956) for use here.

63 (219) Herr Gott, erhalt’ uns fur und fur.

Ludwig Helmbold’s hymn is set in Witt to its proper melody, by Joachim von Burck (Zahn, No. 443), published in 1594. The hymn appears to have no other melody.

The Creed     Vom Glauben (226-229).

*64 (228) Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, Vater.

The hymn is by Tobias Clausnitzer. It is set in Witt to the melody which Bach uses in N. xix. 30.

Prayer     Vom Gebeth (230-239).

*†65 (232) Vater unser im Himmelreich.

Holy Baptism     Von der Tauffe (243-245).

*†66 (243) Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam.

The melody of Luther’s hymn occurs in Cantatas 7, 176, and the Organ works. There is also a four-part setting of it among the Choralgesänge, No. 43.

Nos. 61 to 66 form a group of Catechism hymns. Bach and Witt (Nos. 219-45), whom he follows, treat the heads of the Catechism in the customary order. Bach interchanges Nos. 61 and 62, using the former, as being more definitive, to introduce the Ten Commandments group.

In the Penitential group Bach draws upon Witt’s corresponding section and his “Faith” and “Justication by Faith” hymns. He begins (Nos. 67, 68) with a cry of despair:

• Out of the depths I cry to Thee,
• Lord, hear me, I implore Thee;

and

• Behold, I was all born in sin,
• My mother conceived me therein.

He adds words of comfort; Johann Rist’s (No. 69)

• Jesu, Who, in sorrow dying,
• Didst deliverance bring to me;

and Schneesing’s (No. 70)

• Lord Jesus Christ, in Thee alone
• My only hope on earth I place.

But the mood of despair returns (No. 71):

• Alas! my God! my sins are great,
• My conscience doth upbraid me,
• And now I find in my sore strait
• No man hath power to aid me;

and again (No. 72):

• Jesus, Thou Source of every good,
• Pure Fountain of Salvation,
• Behold me bowed beneath the load
• Of guilt and condemnation;

and again (No. 73):

• A sinner, Lord, I pray Thee,
• Recall Thy dread decree;
• Thy fearful wrath, O spare me,
• From judgment set me free.

There falls (No. 74) a ray of hope:

• My heavy load of sin
• To Thee, O Lord, I bring;
• .................................
• From out Thy Side love floweth,
• And saving grace bestoweth.

After a final (No. 75) act of contrition, the section ends with heartening comfort: Lazarus Spengler’s (No. 76)

• He that hopeth in God steadfastly
• Shall never be confounded;

and Paul Speratus’ (No. 77)

• Salvation hath come down to us
• Of freest grace and love.

It is characteristic of Bach’s temperament that the last two hymns, with their message of comfort, are the only completed movements in the section.

Of the nine hymns in the Holy Communion group only five (Nos. 78, 79, 81, 82, 84) are found in Witt’s corresponding section. The rest are drawn from other parts of Witt’s book or (No. 83) are introduced from outside it. Bach is working out a “programme” of his own. The section begins with Luther’s “Jesus Christus, unser Heiland,” which Bach used many years later for the Eucharistic hymn in the Clavierübung. It is an invitation to the Holy Table:

• Christ Jesus, our Redeemer born,
• Who from us did God’s anger turn,
• That we never should forget it,
• Gave He us His flesh to eat it.
• Who will draw near to that table
• Must take heed, all he is able.
• Who unworthy thither goes,
• Thence death, instead of life, he knows.

No. 79, Luther’s “Gott sei gelobet,” is a prayer that the communicant may worthily receive Christ’s Flesh and Blood.

No. 80, transferred from another section of Witt’s book, brings the communicant to the Holy Table:

• The Lord He is my Shepherd true,
• My steps He safely guideth;
• With all good things in order due
• His bounty me provideth.

No. 81 is an act of devotion before receiving the Sacramental Food:

• Thy poor unworthy guest, O Lord,
• I place me at Thy Table.

No. 82 is an act of thanksgiving after communicating:

• From my sins Thy Blood hath cleansed me,
• From Hell’s flames Thy love hath snatched me.

No. 83 is a grateful invocation of the atoning Lamb of God.

In No. 84 the worshipper apostrophizes the rich gift vouchsafed to him.

The last two hymns (Nos. 85, 86), drawn from other parts of Witt’s book, end upon a note of thanksgiving.

The section does not need comment. Bach includes in it two of the three hymns allotted by Witt to “The Three Estates.”

Excepting Nos. 89 and 91, the hymns in the “Christian Life” section are taken from Witt’s corresponding group. Bach varies Witt’s order, but his own does not indicate a “programme.”

The section “In Time of Trouble” contains seventeen hymns, four of which (Nos. 106, 109, 112, 113) are not in Witt’s corresponding group. Bach also disturbs Witt’s order. He deliberately selects No. 97, a fervent expression of faith, to begin it. The succeeding eight hymns (Nos. 99-106) indicate moods of distress and despair, culminating in No. 106, with its hopeless cry:

• Farewell, vain, worthless world, farewell!
• Farewell to friends, farewell to life!

Then the mood changes. The last seven hymns breathe courage and assurance, and Bach ends with, perhaps, his favourite consolatory hymn, Georg Neumark’s “Wer nur den lieben Gott”:

• Think not amid the hour of trial
• That God hath cast thee off unheard.

While Witt’s corresponding group illustrates promiscuously “The Christian Church” and “God’s Word,” Bach prefers to treat the two ideas separately. Hence, the section contains two parts: (a) “The Church Militant,” Nos. 114-120; and (b) “God’s Holy Word,” Nos. 121-123. In the first part, with one important modification, Bach follows Witt’s order. He begins (No. 114) with Luther’s version of Psalm 12, the fourth stanza of which sets forth the Church’s mission:

• Grant her, O Lord, to keep the faith
• Amid a faithless nation,
• And keep us safe from sinful scathe
• At length to reach salvation.
• Though men their part with Satan take,
• No powers of Hell can ever shake
• The Church’s sure foundation.

To the taunt (No. 115; Luther’s Psalm 14), “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God,” the Church (Luther’s Psalm 46) (No. 116) answers confidently:

In No. 117 (Luther’s Psalm 67) the Church prays for the enlargement of her bounds:

• That Thy way may be known on earth,
• Thy grace among all nations.

Nos. 118 and 119 (two versions of the 124th Psalm) picture the Church militant and victorious:

• Our help on God’s own name doth stand,
• Who hath made heaven and earth.

The last hymn (No. 120) is a vision of the risen Church glorious, the Spouse of Christ.

The second part is prefaced appropriately (No. 121) by Psalm 42, wherein the Church declares her longing for the pure waters of God’s Word. In No. 122 she prays for grace to remain constant. No. 123 expresses the same thought; but, as is so often the case with Bach, in an intimate and personal manner.

In the above group Bach picks out the three best known hymns from Witt’s larger selection.

In the above section all but the last two hymns (Nos. 141, 142) are taken from Witt’s corresponding group. But they are arranged in Bach’s order and with a definite design. Nos. 127-129 are prayers of the soul facing death, calm and confident. Nos. 130, 132, and 133 place us at the graveside. Nos. 134-140 breathe over the dead clay the assurance of a future life. Nos. 141 and 142 proclaim the Last Judgment and the day-dawn of Eternity.

It is remarkable that for his concluding section Bach completely disregards Witt’s corresponding group. In no other part of the Orgelbüchlein is his concentration upon a plan of his own more apparent. He begins (No. 157) with Flittner’s “Jesus-Lied,” whose closing lines, undoubtedly, were particularly before him:

• When Death calls me, O sustain me,
• Thou Consoler,
• Jesu, Comforter.

It is followed by another of Flittner’s hymns (No. 158), which its author inscribed “Omnia si perdam, Jesum servare studebo” (Though I lose all, yet will I cling to Jesus). Its seven stanzas end with the refrain:

• Jesu, from Thee ne’er I’ll part.

Then come two reflective hymns upon the transitoriness of human life (Nos. 159, 160). The mood changes. The last four hymns of the group look across the gulf of death. No. 161 is inscribed by its author “Longing to be with Jesus”:

• There’s a land that looms before me,
• Where nor death nor sin I’ll see,
• Where, ’mid Angels who adore Thee,
• I shall pure and glorious be.

In No. 162, a dialogue between Jesus and the Soul, the Soul bids farewell to earth:

• Vain earth, farewell!
• Lost is thy deadening spell!
• Heavenward my wings are poised.

In the last stanza of the hymn (No. 162) the Soul receives its Master’s summons to Paradise:

• Welcome! ah welcome! O child whom the Father’s love brings Me!
• Heaven is thine, enter in, never, O never, to weary!
• Here shalt thou be
• Of all earth’s troubles heart-free,
• Radiant and happy in glory.

In No. 163 the Soul prays for strength to meet the searching ordeal:

• Jesus, Master, dearest treasure,
• Christ my Saviour, my heart’s pleasure,
• Hands and pierced Side O show me,
• Give me strength to see and know Thee.
• Let me all Thy love inherit
• And meet death in Thy sure merit.

So, sustained and strengthened, the Soul wings its flight Heavenward (No. 164):

• Soul, array thyself with gladness;
• Leave the gloomy caves of sadness;
• Come from doubt and dusk terrestrial,
• Gleam with radiant light celestial:
• For the Lord, divine and gracious,
• Full of gifts both rare and precious,
• He of love itself the essence,
• Bids Thee to His sacred presence.

It is impossible to follow the unfolding plan of the Orgelbüchlein without discerning in its author a man whose personality exhibits the sure fabric of moral grandeur. It reveals in the young man of thirty the simple, confiding trust in God that was his thirty-five years later, when the call of Death came to him almost as his failing breath dictated the words:

• Before Thy throne, my God, I stand,
• Myself, my all are in Thy hand.

It is of interest to observe Bach’s fidelity to the hymns and melodies he included in the Orgelbuchlein. It has been shown elsewhere1 that he introduces 154 hymns into the Passions, Oratorios, Cantatas, and Motetts. Exactly half (77) are in the Orgelbüchlein: Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 32, 34, 36, 38, 43, 44, 45, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 80, 86, 89, 90, 91, 93, 96, 97, 102, 104, 107, 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 125, 126, 127, 128, 130, 132, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 144, 150, 153, 155, 159, 162, 164.

The relation between the Orgelbüchlein and the hymn tunes (132) Bach introduces into his vocal and Organ works is less easy to establish. Since only forty-six of the 164 movements (163 melodies; Nos. 50 and 51 being identical) are written and two bars of another are sketched (No. 29), there remain one hundred and seventeen movements in regard to which we can only conjecture, though with some certainty, the tune Bach had in mind. But assuming that he proposed to use in the Orgelbuchlein the tune which he associates with the particular hymn elsewhere, we conclude that only thirty-four of its 163 melodies are not found in his vocal and Organ works or among his Choralgesange: Nos. 6, 28, 30, 33, 40, 42, 47, 48, 55, 62, 63, 75, 80, 81, 82, 83, 87, 95, 99, 103, 106, 107, 108, 110, 111, 123, 124, 133, 137, 140, 142, 156, 160, 161. The Orgelbüchlein therefore was designed to contain 98 of the 132 hymn melodies that Bach used throughout the whole range of his art.

It follows from what has been written that some, at least, of the completed movements of the Orgelbuchlein may have been composed before the publication of Witt’s Hymn-book in November 1715. Three of them undoubtedly are based on melodic texts not found in Witt (Nos. 4, 98, 131). In three cases (Nos. 14, 27, 44), while using Witt’s tune, Bach clearly follows another text than Witt’s. In another instance the same conclusion presents itself, though less positively (No. 36).

On the other hand, there are movements for which it seems certain that Bach must have had Witt’s text before him, or another identical with it; in particular, “Das alte Jahr,” “Herr Gott, nun schleuss,” and “In dir ist Freude.” Witt refers in his Preface to an older Hymn-book upon which his own was based, and gives constant page references to it. There can be little doubt that he referred to the Gotha Cantional of 1646, or a later edition. Bach’s familiarity with the Gotha Hymn-book of 1715 makes it reasonable to suppose that the earlier Gotha compilation was known and used in Weimar. Unfortunately there is no copy of it in this country, and for the moment it is impossible to collate Witt’s book with it. Zahn’s volumes, however, show that in very many cases Witt’s melodic texts reproduce those of the earlier book.

After his removal to Leipzig in 1723 it is shown that Bach took his melodic texts from the Hymn-books of Leipzig musicians, such as Vetter and Schein. On the other hand, the melodic texts of the four-part settings among the Choralgesange seem very generally to conform to the Hymn-books of the Weimar period. Equally of the Organ movements other than those of the Orgelbüchlein, a collation of their melodic texts makes it evident that in them too Bach generally followed the Gotha tradition.

The subject is a large one, rendered difficult by the inaccessibility of the Hymn-books upon which its solution depends. Meanwhile the revelation of Witt’s Hymn-book and Gotha tradition as Bach’s guides during the early period of his musical career, in which the bulk of his Organ work was composed, offers a stable foundation for further research.

The “Clavierübung,” Part III

The full title of the work is:

The work was published in 1739, or at latest at Easter 1740; price, three thalers1 .

The larger part of the book consists of a series of movements which employ Luther’s hymns to illustrate the Lutheran Catechism:

In a characteristic mood of reverence, Bach prefaces his exposition of Lutheran dogma with an invocation of the Trinity—a Litany to the Three Persons, and “Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’.”

So far the Clavierübung is homogeneous in design. Bach, however, added six irrelevant numbers:

(1) He prefaced the volume with a Prelude in E flat major.

(2) As a closing voluntary he printed a Fugue in E flat major, known as “St Anne’s” from the likeness of its opening subject to that tune. The similar tonality of the opening Prelude and closing Fugue emphasizes the homogeneity of the numbers that lie between them.

(3-6) Between the last of the Catechism Chorals and the closing Fugue he inserted four movements marked “Duetto,” written for the Cembalo Clavicembalo, or “Flügel,” and irrelevant to the rest of the book, though its other movements were also appropriate to the Cembalo.

The Catechism hymns are presented in duplicate, in long and short movements. So also is the introductory “Kyrie,” of whose three sections there are two sets. The “Gloria” (“Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’ ”) is triplicated; each Person of the Trinity being addressed in a separate movement. Schweitzer is of opinion1 that the long movements were composed for the Clavierübung circa 1739, and that the short movements date from an earlier period. He suggests that Bach had in mind Luther’s longer and shorter Catechisms and proposed to distinguish them: the first by a series of lengthy movements sublimely symbolic; the second by Preludes of the childish simplicity characteristic of Luther’s shorter exegesis.

The complete scheme of the Clavierübung is as follows, the capitals A and B standing respectively for the long and short movements:

The title-page of the original edition is as follows:

The reference to Bach’s sons establishes the date of the publication as in or after 1746. The “son in Halle” was Bach’s eldest, Wilhelm Friedemann, who was appointed Organist there in 1746. The “son in Berlin” was Carl Philipp Emmanuel, who had been appointed Clavier accompanist to Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1740.

A copy of the original edition of the Sechs Choräle was extant in 1847. Presumably it had been in the possession of Bach himself or of a member of his family; for it was corrected throughout in Bach’s hand, with his directions for playing the movements. It was in Forkel’s Collection and from him passed to Griepenkerl1 . On the latter’s death it came into the possession of Professor S. W. Dehn, Keeper of the Music in the Royal Library, Berlin, who died in 1858. Writing in 1878, Rust declares its then locality unknown to him. Rust possessed a second and Hauser of Carlsruhe a third copy1 .

After 1744 Bach appears to have abandoned the composition of Church Cantatas, which to that point occupied so much of his time at Leipzig, and devoted himself to his Organ works. During the last five years of his life the Canonic Variations on “Vom Himmel hoch,” the Musikalisches Opfer (Musical Offering) to Frederick the Great, and the Sechs Choräle were published. The Kunst der Fuge (Art of Fugue) appeared shortly after Bach’s death. Excepting the Canonic Variations, all of these works were engraved by Johann Georg Schübler of Zella2 .

Zella is a small town of 4000 inhabitants, twenty miles south of Gotha in the Thuringian Forest, about one hundred miles from Leipzig. That Bach should publish his music there is curious but explicable. The place is distinguished for the manufacture of arms, and Spitta3 conjectures Schübler to have been the son of a gunstock maker there. The link between him and Bach appears to have been Johann Schmidt, Organist at Zella until 1746, when he resigned in favour of his son. Spitta identifies Johann Schmidt as the Johann Christoph Schmidt who, in 1713, copied out a Clavier Prelude of Bach’s for his own use. If the identification is correct, the acquaintance of Bach and Schmidt was of long standing. Schmidt’s, or another’s, intervention, at any rate, seems to account for Bach’s business relations with Zella during the last five years of his life.

The Sechs Chorale were published by Schübler at Zella between 1746 and Bach’s death in 17501 . They are distinguished from the rest of Bach’s Organ music by the fact that five of them positively, and the sixth with practical certainty, are arrangements of movements from his recently composed Leipzig Church Cantatas2 . They are printed in the following order, to which, however, no significance attaches:

The Canonic Variations on “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her”

The work has the following title-page:

The title-page bears no date, but the publication number “28” affords a clue. C. P. E. Bach’s Clavier Concerto in D major, also published by Schmidt, bears the number “27” and the date admittedly is 1745. The “Variations” therefore must have been brought out subsequently to Emmanuel’s Concerto, i.e. in or after 1745. That they were presented by Bach to Mizler’s “Sozietät der musikalischen Wissenschaften,” upon becoming a member of it in June 1747, is an admitted fact. According to the “Necrology” Bach gave the work to the Society “vollständig gearbeitet” (completely worked-out) “and it was afterwards engraved on copper.” If this statement is accurate, Balthasar Schmidt can have published nothing between Emmanuel’s Concerto and the Variations, two years later. The supposition is so improbable, that Bach must be held to have engraved the work before he presented it to the Mizler Society. In other words, its publication is to be assigned to the period in which the Schübler Chorals also made their appearance1 . The Autograph is in the Royal Library, Berlin.

The “Sozietat der musikalischen Wissenschaften” was founded at Leipzig in 1738. Its promoter, Lorenz Christoph Mizler, a student at Leipzig from 1731 to 1734, was in that period Bach’s pupil for composition and the Clavier. His Society being somewhat academic in its outlook, Bach was only induced to join it in the summer of 1747—Handel had been elected an honorary member two years before (1745)2 .

The character of the Society to some extent explains the form of the composition Bach presented to it as his diploma work. His purpose, Schweitzer remarks3 , was “to pack into a single Choral the whole art of canon.” The work consists of five Variations:

I (In Canone all’ Ottava).

A Trio. The canon is between the two manuals; the Pedal having the unembellished melody.

II (Alio modo in Canone alla Quinta).

Like the first Variation, the movement is a Trio, the cantus being on the Pedal, and the canon between the two manuals. The canonic subject has a close affinity to the Choral melody; or, more correctly, suggests either by anticipation (bars 1 and 16) or by repetition (bar 10) the lines of the cantus, in the Pachelbel manner.

III (In Canone alla Settima).

In four parts. The canon is between the Pedal and the second manual. The melody is on the first manual over a free part cantabile.

IV (In Canone all’ Ottava per augmentationem).

In four parts. The canon is between the first manual and the Bass of the second. The melody is on the Pedal. The middle part on the second manual has a free subject.

V (L’ altra sorte del Canone al rovescio: (1) alla Sesta, (2) alla Terza, (3) alla Seconda, e (4) alla Nona).

The movement is a tour-de-force. For the first thirteen bars the melody is in the Treble and below it a canon by inversion at the sixth. From bars 14 to 26 the melody is in the Bass of the second manual in canon with the first by inversion at the third. For bars 27 to 39 the melody is in the Pedal and above it is the canon by inversion at the second. In bars 40 to 51 the melody is again in the Treble in canon with the Pedal by inversion at the ninth. In every one of the foregoing divisions the part not engaged in canon has a free subject; the Pedal in the first two sections, the first manual in the third, the second manual in the fourth. The last five bars are in five parts. Bach introduces into them actually all four lines of the melody, embellished with a profusion of little canons in diminution, “which seem to be tumbling over one another in their eagerness to get into the scheme before the inexorable limits of formal proportion shut the door with the final cadence1 .”

Bach turned again to this work in the last weeks of his life. A corrected fair copy of the printed edition is in the Autograph containing the Eighteen Chorals in the Royal Library, Berlin.

The “Achtzehn Choräle”

The Autograph of the Eighteen Chorals or Great Chorals is in the Berlin Royal Library. It once belonged to Philipp Emmanuel Bach. The manuscript bears the following title:

Bach worked upon the manuscript during the illness that terminated fatally on July 28, 1750. The first fifteen Chorals are Bach’s holograph. Nos. 16 and 17 are in his son-in-law Altnikol’s handwriting. Of the last movement, No. 18, “Vor deinen Thron tret’ ich hiemit,” only the first twenty-five and a half bars are written in the ms. The remaining nineteen and a half bars have been supplied from the Art of Fugue, in which the movement also is found. The conclusion hardly can be evaded that Bach, tardily obsessed by desire to publish in the last five years of his life, was preparing the Eighteen Chorals for the engraver when death called him.

In addition to the Autograph and original edition of the Art of Fugue, early and authoritative mss. of several of the Eighteen Chorals are extant. The Kirnberger Collection in the Amalienbibliothek of the Joachimsthal Gymnasium contains copies of thirteen of them: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 17. Among the mss. of Krebs, another of Bach’s pupils, are copies of Nos. 7 and 12. In the handwriting of Oley (Hauser Collection) are copies of seven: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9. The University Library of Konigsberg possesses early copies of Nos. 7 and 12. Besides these there are earlier versions of twelve: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 (three readings), 6, 8, 9, 10 (two readings), 11, 13, 14, 15. They are found in the Krebs, Kirnberger, and Walther Collections. Bach’s Autograph of one of these earlier versions (No. 10) is in the Berlin Royal Library. The Autograph of the early version of No. 14 is also there1 .

Wilhelm Rust’s conclusion that the Eighteen Chorals were composed during the Leipzig period is contested by Spitta and Schweitzer2 and is generally held to be inaccurate. For the most part their composition dates from the Weimar period, when Bach was still influenced by Buxtehude, Pachelbel, and Böhm. The large number of early texts of them supports the conclusion.

The Eighteen Chorals appear in the Autograph in the following order, to which no significance attaches. Every movement except No. 18 is headed “di J. S. Bach”:

[1 ] Introduction, p. 60.

[2 ] In the Table the melodies are numbered 4, 6, 8, 15-18, 22, 24, 27, 31, 32, 34, 35, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 49, 50, 51, 58, 63, 70, 74-76.

[1 ] Only those movements are admitted to the Table whose genuineness is beyond question. The existence of variant texts and of movements of doubtful authenticity is noted.

[2 ] Or “Danket dem Herrn, heut’ und allzeit.”

[3 ] Bach wrongly names the tune “Ach wie nichtig, ach wie fluchtig.”

[1 ] Also known as “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden.”

[1 ] Or “Lobe den Herren, den machtigen König der Ehren.”

[1 ] Or “Es sind doch selig alle.”

[1 ] Originally “Leve le cœur, ouvre l’oreille.”

[1 ] Schweitzer, J. S. Bach,i. 266.

[1 ] Bach’s Autograph also exists of the early versions of two of the Eighteen Chorals. See infra, p. 80.

[1 ] Schweitzer, i. 234.

[2 ]Ibid. 375.

[3 ] Spitta, J. S. Bach,iii. 86 n.

[1 ] Schweitzer, i. 235-36 n. See the present writer’s translation of Forkel’s Life (1920).

[2 ]Ibid. 101.

[3 ] Schweitzer, i. 161; Spitta, iii. 247. Herr Grasnick, of Berlin, died in 1877.

[4 ] Spitta, iii. 238. See also pp. 22, 23 infra.

[5 ] They are the following in the Novello Edition: xviii. 1, 2, 5, 16, 23, 24, 28, 38, 41, 43, 50, 54, 58, 59, 64, 72, 73, 83; xix. 14, 16, 21, 22, 28, 32.

[6 ] Schweitzer, i. 215; Spitta, ii. 712.

[1 ] Peters, v. Pref.

[2 ] Schweitzer, i. 245.

[3 ] Spitta, i. 381.

[4 ] Schweitzer, i. 251.

[1 ] Schweitzer, i. 253.

[2 ]Ibid.i. 252 n.; ii. 295.

[3 ]Ibid.i. 252.

[1 ] Schweitzer, i. 252 n.

[2 ] Spitta, i. 629.

[1 ] Spitta, ii. 5.

[2 ] Schweitzer, i. 106.

[3 ]Ibid.i. 106 n.

[1 ] Vol. i. 647.

[1 ] B.G. xxv. (2) vii.

[1 ] Vol. i. 647.

[1 ] It is omitted in the Novello Edition.

[1 ] Spitta, i. 648.

[1 ] Vol. i. 287.

[1 ] See the Musical Times for February—March 1917.

[1 ] In Nos. 50-1, 97-8, 130-1 Bach duplicates the hymn. In the first case he does so for reasons stated infra. In the other cases, his melody not being Witt’s, he proposes a second movement alio modo, i.e. on his own preferred melody.

[1 ] See supra, p. 27.

[1 ]Bach’s Chorals, Part II. 46.

[1 ] Spitta, iii. 213 n.

[1 ] Vol. i. 290.

[1 ] Peters, vi. Pref.

[1 ] B.G. xxv. (2) xv.

[2 ] Spitta, iii. 203 n., however, disputes Rust’s conclusion that Schübler engraved the Kunst der Fuge.

[3 ] Vol. iii. 238 n.

[1 ] Wilhelm Rust, who edited them for the Bach Society, dates their publication c. 1747-49.

[2 ] See Parry, J. S. Bach, pp. 390, 535.

[3 ]Bach’s Chorals, Part II. 407.

[1 ]Bach’s Chorals, Part II. 321.

[2 ]Ibid. 157.

[3 ]Ibid. 147.

[4 ]Ibid. 399.

[1 ] See Spitta, iii. 294. In B.G. xlvi, p. xxi n. Kretzschmar dates the work “1723” but offers no proof.

[2 ] See Spitta, iii. 22-25.

[3 ] Vol. i. 283.

[1 ] Parry, p. 541.

[1 ] B.G. xxv. (2) xx.

[2 ] Vol. i. 290.

[1 ]Op. cit. 538.

[2 ] Vol. i. 292.