Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Although he did not introduce new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France.

The Six Chorales (BWVs 645-650) of Various Kinds (Sechs Chorale von verschiedener Art) is a collection of chorale preludes for organ written by Johann Sebastian Bach, and published around 1748. They are commonly nicknamed Schübler Chorales, in reference to the publisher Johann Georg Schübler. All six of the preludes are for an organ with two manuals and pedal, at least five of them transcribed from movements in Bach's cantatas, mostly chorale cantatas. No source has been found for BWV 646, and most scholars assume that the source cantata is one of the 100 or so believed to have been lost. The fact that Bach had gone to the trouble and expense of securing the services of a master engraver to produce a collection of note-for-note transcriptions of this kind indicates that he did not regard the Schübler Chorales as a minor piece of hack-work, but as a significant public statement. These six chorales provide an approachable version of the music of the cantatas through the more marketable medium of keyboard transcriptions.

"Meine Seele erhebet den Herrn" is the 4th Chorale prelude ("My soul doth magnify the Lord") in D Minor and composed by Bach around 1748 and although originally written for Organ, I created this arrangement for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).