Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale harmonisations,
alternatively named four-part chorales, are Lutheran
hymn settings that characteristically conform to the
following: four-part harmony, SATB vocal forces or
homophonic text treatment.
The compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach that had been
printed during his lifetime were nearly exclusively
instrumental works. Moreover, by the time Bach died in
1750 it was forgotten that a few of his vocal works
(BWV 71, BWV 439–507,...) had indeed been ...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale harmonisations,
alternatively named four-part chorales, are Lutheran
hymn settings that characteristically conform to the
following: four-part harmony, SATB vocal forces or
homophonic text treatment.
The compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach that had been
printed during his lifetime were nearly exclusively
instrumental works. Moreover, by the time Bach died in
1750 it was forgotten that a few of his vocal works
(BWV 71, BWV 439–507,...) had indeed been printed in
the first half of the 18th century. In the period
between the publication of The Art of Fugue in the
early 1750s, and the publication of further works from
1900, only one group of Bach's works was published: his
four-part chorales.
The most complete 18th century publication of chorales
by J. S. Bach is Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's edition in
four volumes, published by Breitkopf from 1784 to 1787.
About half of the chorale harmonisations in this
collection have their origin in other extant works by
Bach. This collection went through four more editions
and countless reprintings until 1897. Several other
collections of chorales by J. S. Bach were published,
some of these using the original C-clef or different
texts.
The loss of musical material from Bach's death to the
first printings of chorale collections may have been
substantial. Not only are many works the chorales were
extracted from no longer extant but there is no way of
knowing how much of all the harmonisations that were
once compiled the current collections include. For
example, there is no way of knowing how many of the 150
harmonisations first proposed for sale in 1764 also
appear in Princess Anna Amalia's manuscript which
ultimately forms the basis of the Breitkopf edition. As
to the chorale melodies with figured bass, current
collections include less than one hundred of them
whereas those proposed for sale in 1764 numbered
240.
The chorale harmonisations BWV 250–438 were probably
all extracted from lost larger vocal works. For six of
them the work they have been derived from has been
identified. Bach's chorale harmonisations are all for a
four-part choir (SATB), but Riemenschneider's and
Terry's collections contain one 5-part SSATB choral
harmonisation (Welt, ade! ich bin dein müde,
Riemenscheider No. 150, Terry No. 365), not actually by
Bach, but used by Bach as the concluding chorale to
cantata Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende? BWV 27.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chorale_harmonis
ations_by_Johann_S...).
I created this arrangement of the 3 Wedding Chorales:
"Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" (What God does, that
is done well), "Sei Lob und Ehr dem höchsten Gut" (Let
there be praise and honour for the highest good) & "Nun
danket alle Gott" (Now all thank God) for Brass Trio
(Bb Trumpet, French Horn & F Tuba) & Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).