The Orgelbüchlein ("Little Organ Book") BWV 599-644 is
a collection of 46 chorale preludes for organ written
by Johann Sebastian Bach. All but three of them were
composed during the period 1708–1717, while Bach was
court organist at the ducal court in Weimar. The
remaining three, along with a short two-bar fragment,
were added in 1726 or later, after Bach's appointment
as cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig.
The collection was originally planned as a set of 164
chorale preludes spa...(+)
The Orgelbüchlein ("Little Organ Book") BWV 599-644 is
a collection of 46 chorale preludes for organ written
by Johann Sebastian Bach. All but three of them were
composed during the period 1708–1717, while Bach was
court organist at the ducal court in Weimar. The
remaining three, along with a short two-bar fragment,
were added in 1726 or later, after Bach's appointment
as cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig.
The collection was originally planned as a set of 164
chorale preludes spanning the whole liturgical year.
The chorale preludes form the first of Bach's
masterpieces for organ with a mature compositional
style in marked contrast to his previous compositions
for the instrument. Although each of them takes a known
Lutheran chorale and adds a motivic accompaniment, Bach
explored a wide diversity of forms in the
Orgelbüchlein. Many of the chorale preludes are short
and in four parts, requiring only a single keyboard and
pedal, with an unadorned cantus firmus. Others involve
two keyboards and pedal: these include several canons,
four ornamental four-part preludes, with elaborately
decorated chorale lines, and a single chorale prelude
in trio sonata form. The Orgelbüchlein has a four-fold
purpose: it is a collection of organ music for church
services, a treatise on composition, a religious
statement, and an organ-playing manual.
In these chorale preludes, the traditional Lutheran
hymns are subjected to various types of polyphonic
treatment, with different types of countersubjects and
imitative devices. The two pieces chosen by Mr. Escaich
show two different compositional approaches: in the New
Year chorale In dir ist Friede ("In You is Peace"), the
melody is heard in close four-part imitation,
elaborating on the very first two measures of the tune
in particular. The Easter hymn Christ ist erstanden
("Christ Has Risen"), by contrast, is given in three
variations; what is remarkable is that not only the
countersubjects change from one variation to the next
but the melody itself undergoes slight modifications.
However, the chorale melody doesn't wander from voice
to voice but stays in the treble all the way through.
In the chorale prelude BWV 638 for single manual and
pedal, the cantus firmus is in the soprano voice in
simple crotchets. The accompaniment in the inner voices
is built on a four note motif—derived from the hymn
tyne—a descending semiquaver scale, starting with a
rest or "breath" (suspirans): together they provide a
constant stream of semiquavers, sometimes in parallel
sixths, running throughout the piece until the final
cadence. Below them the pedal is a walking bass in
quavers, built on the inverted motif and octave leaps,
pausing only to mark the cadences at the end of each
line of the hymn. The combination of the four parts
conveys a joyous mood, similar to that of BWV 606 and
609. For Hermann Keller, the running quavers and
semiquavers "suffuse the setting with health and
strength." Stinson (1999) and Williams (2003) speculate
that this chorale prelude and the preceding BWV 637,
written on opposite sides of the same manuscript paper,
might have been intended as a pair of contrasting
catechism settings, one about sin, the other about
salvation. Both have similar rhythmic structures in the
parts, but one is in a minor key with complex chromatic
harmonies, the other in a major key with firmly
diatonic harmonies.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgelb%C3%BCchlein).
Although originally created for Organ, I created this
Interpretation of Choral Prelude (BWV 638) "Es ist das
Heil uns kommen her [Salvation has come to us) for
English Horn & String Trio (Violin, Viola & Cello).
