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.
"O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß" (O man, bewail thy
sins so great) is a Lutheran Passion hymn with a text
written by Sebald Heyden in 1530 on an older melody,
Strasbourg around 1524. The author reflects the
Passion, based on the Four Evangelists, originally in
23 stanzas. The first and last stanzas have appeared in
11 hymnals. Catherine Winkworth translated it as "O
man, thy grievous sin bemoan". The hymn has been used
in Passion music and is known in Bach's setting as a
chorale fantasia closing Part I of his St Matthew
Passion. Bach's organ treatment of this simple E flat
major melody could hardly be more lush -- indeed, BWV
622 is one of the most thoroughly ornamented of all
Bach's compositions; the melody as laid out in the top
voice of the organ part is coloratura in the best and
most original sense of the word. All of the repeats
indicated in Greitter's hymn melody by symbols are
written out in Bach's prelude, and each of these
repeated phrases is given a completely new suit of
clothes -- not just ornamentally but also in terms of
basic harmony and voice leading -- the second time
around.
O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde gross, in addition to
being the most elaborately decorated piece in the
Orgelbüchlein, is probably the most chromatically
adventuresome as well, especially in the final few bars
(the last one is marked adagissimo by Bach, calling
attention to the last line of text: "long on the
cross"), in which we are treated not only to a steadily
rising chromatic bass line that moves with great
conviction towards a shocking C flat major chord, but
also to some wonderfully pungent G flat/F flat
decoration in the top voice.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgelb%C3%BCchlein).
Although originally created for Organ, I created this
Interpretation of Choral Prelude (BWV 622) "O Mensch,
bewein dein Sünde groß" (Oh Man, bewail your great
sins) for Oboe & String Trio (Violin, Viola & Cello).