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.
The verses of Franck's hymn alternate the order of the
words nichtig and flüchtig in their opening lines.
Bach's title conforms to a later 1681 hymnbook from
Weimar which inverted the order throughout. The chorale
prelude is in four voices for single manual with
pedals. The cantus firmus in the sporano voice is a
simple form of the hymn tune in crotchets. The
accompaniment, intricately crafted from two separate
motifs in the inner voices and in the pedal, is a
particularly fine illustration of Bach's compositional
method in the Orgelbüchlein. The motif in the pedal is
a constant three note quaver figure, with octave leaps
punctuated by frequent rests. Above this bass, the
inner voices weave a continuous pattern of descending
and ascending scales in semiquavers, constantly
varying, sometimes moving in the same direction and
sometimes in contrary motion. This texture of flowing
scales over a "quasi-pizzicato" bass captures the theme
of the hymn: it is a reflection on the transitory
nature of human existence, likened to a mist "gathered
in an hour together, and soon dispersed." Similar
semiquaver figures had been used in other contemporary
settings of this hymn, for example in a set of
variations by Böhm and in the first chorus of Bach's
cantata BWV 26, but without conveying the same effect
of quiet reflection. To Spitta (1899) the scales "hurry
by like misty ghosts." Hermann Keller saw the bass
motif as representing "the futility of human
existence." Others have suggested that the rests in the
pedal part might symbolise the nothingness of ach wie
nichtig. Exceptionally Bach scored the final chord of
this nebulous piece without pedal. A similar device has
been used by Bach for the word inanes ("empty") in the
ninth movement of his Magnificat. Stinson (1999) also
sees similarities with Bach's omission of a bass part
in Wie zittern und wanken from cantata BWV 105, an aria
concerned with the uncertainties in the life of a
sinner.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgelb%C3%BCchlein).
Although originally created for Organ, I created this
Interpretation of Choral Prelude (BWV 644) "Ach wie
nichtig, ach wie flüchtig" (Oh how fleeting, oh how
feckless) for Pan Flute & Strings (Violin, Viola &
Cello).