Johann Christoph Bach (1642 – 1703) was a German
composer and organist of the Baroque period. He was
born at Arnstadt, the son of Heinrich Bach, Johann
Sebastian Bach's great uncle, hence he was Johann
Sebastian's first cousin once removed. He was also the
uncle of Maria Barbara Bach, J.S. Bach's first wife. He
is not to be confused with Johann Sebastian's Bach's
son, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach.
Johann Christoph had a reputation as a composer that
was only equalled by that of Jo...(+)
Johann Christoph Bach (1642 – 1703) was a German
composer and organist of the Baroque period. He was
born at Arnstadt, the son of Heinrich Bach, Johann
Sebastian Bach's great uncle, hence he was Johann
Sebastian's first cousin once removed. He was also the
uncle of Maria Barbara Bach, J.S. Bach's first wife. He
is not to be confused with Johann Sebastian's Bach's
son, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach.
Johann Christoph had a reputation as a composer that
was only equalled by that of Johann Sebastian within
the Bach family during his lifetime. He was organist at
Eisenach and later a member of the court chamber
orchestra there. His brother, Johann Michael Bach
(Johann Sebastian Bach's father-in-law and Maria
Barbara's father), was also a composer. Some of the
works were later attributed to Johann Sebastian, but
were recently recognized as written by Johann
Christoph. One of the most famous works is the cantata
Meine Freundin, du bist schön, based on the Song of
Solomon. His eldest son, Johann Nicolaus Bach, was also
a composer.
Allein Gott in der Höh sei Her-- The German Gloria (in
excelsis Deo) is based in part on the Gregorian chant
“Gloria in excelsis” from the Latin Late Medieval
Liturgy and on a “Sanctus in festis duplicibus” of
the “Graduale Romanum”. The first section (Stollen)
of “Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr” is similar to
a 10th century Easter song which subsequently spread to
other countries. It was Nikolaus Decius (c1485-after
1546) who pulled together various existing melodic
strands and probably used this melody with a slightly
different text in Braunschweig in 1522. Unfortunately,
the original sources of Decius’s melodies and texts
from this period have been lost; this is why later
dates such as 1525 (Rostock) are generally given where
sources have confirmed his authorship. Nevertheless,
Decius is considered to be the author and composer of
the oldest Evangelical Lutheran chorales (Luther wrote
his first chorale a year later). His [Decius’s]
melodies are based on those used in the Latin Mass, but
he reformed and reshaped them to reflect the style of
the folksongs of his time. There are three chorales
which can be traced back to him. They are (with the
original Low German titles): 1. "Aleyne God yn der
Höge sy eere", 2. "Hyllich ys Godt de vader", 3. "O
Lam Gades vnschüldich" [“Allein Gott in der Höh sei
Ehr”, "Heilig ist Gott der Vater”, and “O Lamm
Gottes unschuldig”]. These chorales were designed to
replace the “Gloria”, “Sanctus”, and “Agnus
dei” of the Roman Mass and were to be sung by the
congregation. Originally a firm supporter of Luther,
Decius later sided more with reformed doctrine. This
may explain why Luther later accepted only the Decius
melody, but not his original text. Just what the
differences in text may have amounted to is not clear,
but certainly Luther’s task also involved translating
the Low German into Luther’s language, Middle German
(which later became the main basis for High
German).
Although originally written for voice, I created this
arrangement for Woodwind Trio (Flute, Bb Clarinet and
Bass Clarinet).
SHEET MUSIC