As a craftsman obliged to fulfil the terms of his employment, Bach provided music suited to his various appointments. It was natural that his earlier work as an organist and something of an expert on the construction of organs, should result in music for that instrument. At Cöthen, where the Pietist leanings of the court made church music unnecessary, he provided a quantity of instrumental music for the court orchestra and its players. In Leipzig he began by composing series of cantatas for the church year, later turning his attention to instrumental music for the Collegium musicum of the University, and to the collection and ordering of his own compositions.

The so-called Kirnberger Collection (BWV 690-713), a title now generally ignored in recent editions, is a collection of music by Bach copied by or for his pupil Johann Philipp Kirnberger. The latter was born in Saalfeld in 1721 and educated in Coburg and Cotha, before, in 1739, travelling to Leipzig for lessons in composition and performance with Bach. After a period spent in Poland, he returned to Dresden, moving then to Berlin as a violinist in the Prussian royal service. In 1754 he entered the service of Prince Heinrich of Prussia and four years later that of Princess Anna Amalia, remaining in this last position until his death in Berlin in 1783. Kirnberger had the highest regard for Bach, and did his utmost to bring about the posthumous publication of the latter's four-part chorale settings.

Source: Allmusic (http://www.allmusic.com/composition/liebster-jesu-wir- sind-hier-iii-chorale-prelude-for-organ-bwv-706-bc-k116 -mc0002372606).

The date of composition of this work probably falls in the Weimar period (1708-1717), though it may originate in the several years immediately before, as far back as 1703. Bach wrote five other chorale preludes for organ based on the theme in the chorale "Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier" (Dearest Jesus, We Are Here), two of which are in the Orgelbüchlein (BWV 633 and 634), and three not part of any set (BWV 730, 731, and 754). Like most of Bach's other chorale preludes, all of these efforts are short, and thus, the minute-and-a-half or two-minute length of this BWV 706 effort is not unusual. Bach tended to treat this chorale theme in an ethereal or celestial sort of manner in his adaptations of it for organ. The two in the Orgelbüchlein, for instance, are almost identical twins and are fine examples of this approach. Here, in BWV 706, the tone is subdued and while the mood could be described as ethereal, it might more aptly be called solemn and reverential in its gentleness. Not that the music is stiff sounding, but Bach presents the lovely theme in a straightforward manner, with slow pacing and contrapuntal writing that blends rather than italicizes.

I created this Transcription of the Chorale Prelude (BWV 708 & 708a) "Ich hab mein Sach Gott heimgestellt" (I have left all that concerns me up to God) for Pipe Organ.