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.
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.
The third part of Bach's Clavier-Übung, published in
Leipzig in 1739, contains 21 chorale preludes (not all
appear in every publication), many of which are for
manuals only. Nine of these are meant for use during
the Mass, while the others are for the catechism. Among
the most impressive is Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist, BWV
671, which is in five voices with the chorale melody in
the pedal. More complex is the first of two preludes on
Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 686, which is in
six parts, including two pedal parts.
"Ein feste Burg" (A Mighty Fortress) can best be
described as a chorale fantasia. This type of piece
differs from other chorale preludes by its free
treatment of the tune, often obscuring it with
ornaments and improvisatory gestures.
Ein feste Burg, based on Luther's hymn, is usually
played on Reformation Sunday. The heading indicates it
was written for a 3-manual organ, but the original
registration only specifies a 16' Fagotto in the swell
and a Sesquialtera in the great. The style of this
piece recalls the North German school of Baroque
composers, with dialogue exchanged between voices and
various changes in dynamics and texture. The tunes
alternate between both hands and the feet, and the
strongest quotation of the melody sounds on the pedal
(usually a Trumpet) in the middle of the piece.
For many years, it was believed that Ein feste Burg ist
unser Gott was one of the miscellaneous chorales of
Johann Sebastian Bach that was transmitted by Bach's
students. It is known in four extant manuscripts, and
at one time was known in two others; thankfully the
latter of these lost items was microfilmed before the
original disappeared. The main manuscript version known
to Bach's editors in the nineteenth century (D B Mus.
ms. Bach P 802) was compiled before 1740 by Johann
Gottfried Walther, Johann Ludwig Krebs and the latter's
two brothers. There it appears as an unattributed work
among a number of pieces known to have been written by
Johann Sebastian Bach, and so it was included without
comment in the 1893 collection of Bach's collected
organ works issued in 1893 as BWV 720. The piece also
appears in a manuscript collection(D B Mus. ms. Bach P
806) compiled by F. A. Grasnick around 1800, seemingly
with no attribution. But recent examination of the
manuscript revealed that in this case the author's name
was placed at the end - Johann Michael Bach, Johann
Sebastian's uncle, who died in 1694. Checking against
the little known microfilm of the lost source, which
was copied by Johann Gottfried Walther, it was
confirmed that Walther did indeed indicate that Johann
Michael Bach was the composer of this little setting of
Ein feste Burg.
Source: Allmusic
(http://www.allmusic.com/composition/ein-feste-burg-ist
-unser-gott-chorale-prelude-for-organ-by-johann-michael
-bach-not-jsb-bwv-720-bc-k103-mc0002373183).
Although originally written for Pipe Organ, I created
this Interpretation of the Chorale Fantasia (BWV 720)
"Ein feste Burg" (A Mighty Fortress) for Wind Quartet
(Flute, Oboe, French Horn & Bassoon).
SHEET MUSIC