This is a new transcription for piano of the third movement (Largo e spiccato) of J.S. Bach's Concerto in D minor, BWV 596. Bach's original organ concerto was itself a transcription of Vivaldi's Concerto in D minor for two violins and obbligato violoncello (RV 565, Op.3 No. 11). It has been arranged to bring out the best qualities of this hauntingly beautiful melody.

Johann Sebastian Bach, Aria 'Widerstehe doch der Sünde' from cantate BWV 54. Arrangment / transcription for piano by Jaap Eilander.

"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (or simply "Joy") is the most common English title of a piece of music derived from a chorale setting of the cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 ("Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life"), composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1723. The same music on different stanzas of a chorale closes both parts of the cantata.

A transcription by the English pianist Myra Hess (1890?1965) was published in 1926 for piano solo and in 1934 for piano duet. It is often performed slowly and reverently at wedding ceremonies, as well as during Christian festive seasons like Christmas and Easter.Jesus joy of men (Jesus bleibet meine Freude, in German) is the final choir of the cantata "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben" ("Heart and Mouth and Actions and Life", in a free translation), written by Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig, Germany in the year 1716.

Although it is the 32nd cantata composed by Bach, of those that survived, it was given the number BWV 147 in the complete catalog of his works. Contrary to what is supposed, Johann Schop (1590-1664), and not Bach, composed the melodic line of the choir Werde munter, mein Gemüthe (1641), which gave rise to the sixth and tenth movements of Cantata 147, being the tenth Jesus bleibet meine Freude. Bach gave him harmonization and an instrumental accompaniment. In this composition, the choir is superimposed on a great succession of triplets, "one of the Bachian symbols to indicate the Trinity.

J.S. Bach - Invention 1
Piano sheet with coloured notes.

The piece is the first of the Two-Part Inventions, a collection of 15 two-part contrapuntal pieces.