As organist at Weimar, Johann Sebastian Bach was
charged with providing a harmonic underpinning for the
singing of Lutheran chorale tunes chosen for each day.
Bach wrote out many of these harmonizations, in part as
instruction for younger composers (they are still used
for this purpose). A derivation of this practice,
Bach's conception of the organ chorale, as manifested
in the chorale preludes, dates from 1713 -1714, about
the time he became familiar with Vivaldi's
concertos.
Bach's Or...(+)
As organist at Weimar, Johann Sebastian Bach was
charged with providing a harmonic underpinning for the
singing of Lutheran chorale tunes chosen for each day.
Bach wrote out many of these harmonizations, in part as
instruction for younger composers (they are still used
for this purpose). A derivation of this practice,
Bach's conception of the organ chorale, as manifested
in the chorale preludes, dates from 1713 -1714, about
the time he became familiar with Vivaldi's
concertos.
Bach's Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book) contains
chorale preludes for the church year written during the
composer's service at Weimar (1708 - 1717). In about
1713, Bach began assembling the Orgel-Büchlein, and
his earliest entries seem to be Her Christ, der ein'ge
Gottes-Sohn, BWV 601, In dulci jubilo, BWV 608, Christ
ist erstanden, BWV 627, and Heut' triumphieret Gottes
Sohn, BWV 630. These were very original compositions,
highly expressive miniatures based on a chorale melody,
supported with refined counterpoint, and featuring
highly condensed motivic writing.
Bach's Orgelbüchlein was essentially complete by 1716.
Only the fragment O Traurigkeit and the chorale
prelude, Helft mir Gottes Güte preisen, BWV 613, were
added later. "Complete" is used with some reservation
here, because Bach originally projected 164 pieces but
completed fewer than 50. In Bach's manuscript, pages
with finished pieces alternate with blank ones intended
for other chorale preludes. The later pieces differ
from Bach's earlier chorale elaborations, in that they
contain only one statement of the melody and are
intended to demonstrate how to accompany a chorale with
contrapuntally proper figurations that support the
meaning of the text.
In the early 1740s Bach assembled a number of chorale
preludes, possibly with the intention of publishing
them as a set. These Achtzehn Choräle (Eighteen
Chorales) BWV 651 - 668 were almost certainly written
before 1723 and revised later. The Fantasia super Komm,
heiliger Geist, BWV 651 is an especially impressive,
extended elaboration of the chorale melody, which is in
the pedal. The tune is treated in a less ornate fashion
in the next prelude of the set (BWV 652). The highly
convoluted Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, BWV 658 also
contains the chorale melody in the pedal.
The six Schübler chorales (BWV 645 - 650) are derived
from Bach's cantatas and contain one of his most
popular chorale preludes, on the melody Wachet auf,
ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645.
Fuga sopra il Magnificat: Meine Seele erhebet den
Herren (My Soul Praise the Lord) was at one time
believed to date from Johann Sebastian Bach's first
year as organist in the Duke of Sachsen-Weimar's Court.
At the time the Bach-Gesellschaft volume containing
this work was compiled in 1893, the only manuscript
sources known for the Magnificat Fugue dated from no
earlier than 1800. These identified the work as Bach's.
Toward the end of the twentieth century, previously
unknown manuscripts came to light that established the
paternity of the piece for Bach's student, Johann
Ludwig Krebs.
While the Magnificat Fugue is certainly a worthwhile
and even strong composition, it is not consistently
compelling. It suffers in comparison to such genuine
Johann Sebastian Bach works as the Prelude and Fugue
(BWV 532), but is still a fine composition. In its
latter half, for example, Krebs' writing is brilliant
and quite as masterful as that in many of Bach's
greatest works for organ. Krebs presents the stately
chorale theme in a somewhat dry fashion in the opening,
but afterwards his subtle contrapuntal voicing enlivens
the music, drawing in the listener. When he finally
makes use of the pedal just past the midpoint of the
work, the music suddenly takes on an epic air, a
greater sense of religious grandeur. Throughout the
piece, Krebs subtly employs a motif, as well as its
inversion, which it derives from the work's
countermelody, in the end demonstrating his mastery in
development and contrapuntal writing. Lasting about
four to four-and-a-half minutes, this work, despite the
flaws noted, may still attract many listeners, even
though it is no longer recognized as a work of
Bach.
Source: Allmusic
(http://www.allmusic.com/composition/fugue-on-the-magni
ficat-meine-seele-erhebet-den-herren-for-organ-formerly
-bwv-733-mc0002624830).
Although originally written for Pipe Organ, I created
this Interpretation of the Fugue on the Magnificat (BWV
733) "Meine Seele erhebet den Herren" (My Soul Praise
the Lord) for Oboe & Strings (Violin, Viola & Cello).
