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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.

An Wasserflüssen Babylon.

• • i.

    At the ryvers of Babilon,
  • There sat we downe ryght hevely;
  • Even whan we thought upon Sion,
  • We wepte together sorofully.
  • For we were in soch hevynes,
  • That we forgat al our merynes,
  • And lefte of all oure sporte and playe:
  • On the willye trees that were thereby
  • We hanged up oure harpes truly,
  • And morned sore both nyght and daye.

• • ii.

    They that toke us so cruelly,
  • And led us bounde into pryson,
  • Requyred of us some melody,
  • With wordes full of derision.
  • When we had hanged oure harpes alwaye,
  • This cruell folke to us coulde saye:
  • Now let us heare some mery songe,
  • Synge us a songe of some swete toyne,
  • As ye were wont to synge at Sion,
  • Where ye have lerned to synge so longe.

• • iii.

    To whome we answered soberly:
  • Beholde now are we in youre honde:
  • How shulde we under captivite
  • Synge to the Lorde in a straunge londe?
  • Hierusalem, I say to the,
  • Yf I remember the not truly,
  • My honde playe on the harpe no more:
  • Yf I thynke not on the alwaye,
  • Let my tonge cleve to my mouth for aye,
  • And let me loose my speache therfore.

• • iv.

    Yee, above all myrth and pastaunce,
  • Hierusalem, I preferre the.
  • Lorde, call to thy remembraunce
  • The sonnes of Edom ryght strately,
  • In the daye of the destruction,
  • Which at Hierusalem was done;
  • For they sayd in theyr cruelnes,
  • Downe with it, downe with it, destroye it all;
  • Downe with it soone, that it may fall,
  • Laye it to the grounde all that there is.

• • v.

    O thou cite of Babilon,
  • Thou thy selfe shalt be destroyed.
  • Truly blessed shall be that man
  • Which, even as thou hast deserved,
  • Shall rewarde the with soch kyndnesse
  • As thou hast shewed to us gyltlesse,
  • Which never had offended the.
  • Blessed shall he be that for the nones1
  • Shall throwe thy chyldren agaynst the stones,
  • To brynge the out of memorie.

  • Wolfgang Dachstein (d. c. 1561)     Tr. Bishop Myles Coverdale2 .

The hymn and melody appeared together in the third part of the Teutsch Kirchēamt mit lobgsengen (Strasbourg, 1525). The words are by Wolfgang Dachstein, to whom the melody also is assigned. He was Organist of Strasbourg Cathedral, and later, having become a Protestant, of St Thomas’ Church there. He died circa 1561.

There are two movements upon the melody in the Organ works—in the Eighteen Chorals and among the miscellaneous movements (Fünfstimmig). Griepenkerl states that Krebs’ copies of the two are marked respectively “Vers 2” and “Vers 1.” They display a close relation in tonality, atmosphere, and construction. Both are in G major. Both are inspired by the word “Wasserflüssen” (waves). In quavers, against the crotchets of the cantus, the accompaniment ripples on pellucidly in a figure which, in No. 18 especially, is reminiscent of Schubert’s familiar “Barcarolle.” Though No. 17 is six bars longer than No. 18, the two movements are otherwise similar. Practically they are built upon the same Bass, and their contrapuntal accompaniment to the cantus is constructed out of the opening two lines of the melody. In No. 17 the close is prolonged upon a final (tenth) statement of the opening phrase of the cantus. The melody also occurs in Choralgesange, No. 23. In the penultimate bar (supra) E flat for E natural as the sixth note was general after 1653. Witt (No. 601) has it and also Bach’s B natural as the penultimate note of bar 4 supra. Of Bach’s B natural as the third note of bars 2 and 4 Zahn (No. 7663) affords no earlier example.

[17]

N. xvii. 18. The movement is No. 3 of the Eighteen Chorals. Schweitzer1 finds in it the evident influence of Georg Böhm, Organist of St John’s Church, Lüneburg, from 1698 to his death in 1734 (?). Spitta2 , on the other hand, detects in it the example of Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), Organist of St Mary’s Church, Lübeck, but concurs with Schweitzer in regarding the movement as an early essay of Bach’s. He dates its composition circa 1712, during the Weimar period.

No. 17 is not the oldest form of the movement. B.G. xxv. (2) 157 (P. vi. 103) prints an older version of it which may be distinguished as No. 17a. In the year 1720, as will be shown, Bach revised No. 17a and produced No. 18. No. 17 seems to have been the final text, prepared for the collection upon which Bach was at work at the time of his death. With what art he creates (cf. No. 18 where the impression is less evident) an atmosphere of languor congruous to stanza i of the hymn!

[18]

N. xviii. 13 was the result of a revision of No. 17a, whose occasion Spitta suggests with plausibility. In the autumn of 1720 Bach visited Hamburg, where the post of Organist in the Church of St James was vacant. Johann Reinken, the veteran Organist of St Catherine’s Church there, came to hear Bach play, and complimented him upon an improvisation, in the broad Bohm-Buxtehude manner, upon the melody “An Wasserflüssen Babylon,” a theme which Reinken himself had treated in a Prelude1 . Spitta suggests2 that Bach revised the Hamburg improvisation (No. 17a) and sent Reinken No. 18. Having regard to Reinken’s age and traditions it was natural that Bach should offer him a composition in the manner of Böhm (Reinken’s pupil) and Buxtehude rather than in the new forms Bach was originating. While preserving the framework of No. 17a, Bach added a second Pedal part, an addition which entailed removing the cantus from the Tenor, where it lies in Nos. 17a and 17, to the Treble3 .

The single ms. of No. 18 is in the Royal Library, Berlin, inscribed “J.S.B.” by Krebs.

[1 ] For the nonce, for the purpose.

[2 ]Remains (Parker Society, 1846), p. 571. The original hymn has five stanzas.

[1 ] Vol. i. 292.

[2 ] Vol. i. 616.

[1 ] For Bach’s visit to Hamburg, see Forkel (trans. Terry), p. 20.

[2 ] Vol. i. 617.

[3 ] Spitta points out (i. 608) that the characteristics of the Buxtehude form were melodic ornamentation, richness of harmony and tone, the constant employment of two manuals, one having the cantus, and the frequent use of the double Pedal (pedale doppio).