The Clavier-Übung III, sometimes referred to as the
German Organ Mass, is a collection of compositions for
organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, started in 1735–36
and published in 1739. It is considered Bach's most
significant and extensive work for organ, containing
some of his musically most complex and technically most
demanding compositions for that instrument.
In its use of modal forms, motet-style and canons, it
looks back to the religious music of masters of the
stile antico, such ...(+)
The Clavier-Übung III, sometimes referred to as the
German Organ Mass, is a collection of compositions for
organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, started in 1735–36
and published in 1739. It is considered Bach's most
significant and extensive work for organ, containing
some of his musically most complex and technically most
demanding compositions for that instrument.
In its use of modal forms, motet-style and canons, it
looks back to the religious music of masters of the
stile antico, such as Frescobaldi, Palestrina, Lotti
and Caldara. At the same time, Bach was
forward-looking, incorporating and distilling modern
baroque musical forms, such as the French-style
chorale.
The work has the form of an Organ Mass: between its
opening and closing movements—the prelude and "St
Anne" fugue in E-flat, BWV 552—are 21 chorale
preludes, BWV 669–689, setting parts of the Lutheran
mass and catechisms, followed by four duets, BWV
802–805. The chorale preludes range from compositions
for single keyboard to a six-part fugal prelude with
two parts in the pedal.
The purpose of the collection was fourfold: an
idealized organ programme, taking as its starting point
the organ recitals given by Bach himself in Leipzig; a
practical translation of Lutheran doctrine into musical
terms for devotional use in the church or the home; a
compendium of organ music in all possible styles and
idioms, both ancient and modern, and properly
internationalised; and as a didactic work presenting
examples of all possible forms of contrapuntal
composition, going far beyond previous treatises on
musical theory.
The last manualiter four-part chorale prelude, Jesus
Christus, unser Heiland BWV 689 in C minor, is marked
"Fuga super Jesus Christus, unser Heyland" in the 1739
print. In contrast to the previous fughettas in the
previous five manualiter settings of the catechism
hymns, it is a long and complex fugue of great
originality, a tour de force in the use of stretti. The
fugue subject is derived from the first line of the
chorale. In order to facilitate the stretti which
underlie the whole conception of BWV 689, Bach chose to
transform the modal melody by sharpening the fourth
note from a B-flat to a B-natural, a modification
already found in 17th-century hymnbooks. This change
also allowed Bach to introduce dissonances, imbuing the
work with what the French organist and musicologist
Norbert Dufourcq called "tormented chromaticism".[57]
The quaver countersubject and its inversions are used
and developed throughout the fugue. It resembles some
of Bach's other keyboard fugues, in particular the
ante-penultimate fugue in B-flat minor BWV 891/2 of the
second book of the Well-Tempered Clavier, composed at
roughly the same time.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clavier-%C3%9Cbung_III).
Although originally created for Organ, I created this
Interpretation of the Chorale Prelude (BWV 689) "Jesus
Christus, unser Heiland" (Jesus Christ our Saviour) for
Flute & String Trio (Violin, Viola & Cello).