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of the cantatas through the more marketable medium of keyboard transcriptions.[1] Virtually all Bach's cantatas were unpublished in his lifetime.
Context and content
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Five of the Schübler Chorales are transcriptions of movements of extant church cantatas by Bach. These cantatas belong to the chorale cantata or second year cycle. Bach began to present the cantatas of this cycle from the first Sunday after Trinity 11 June 1724, which was the start of his second year in Leipzig. He continued to present 40 new chorale cantatas until Easter of the next year, 1 April 1725, from which day the chorale cantata cycle and the second year cycle no longer coincide: for the remainder of his second year in Leipzig his newly composed church cantatas were no longer in the chorale cantata format, while on the other hand he added chorale cantatas to the cycle which were composed outside the period of his second year in Leipzig. Listed according to the sequence of the liturgical year:
BWV 6 is a cantata for Easter Monday: it was first presented in Bach's second year in Leipzig, on 2 April 1725, shortly after Bach had discontinued chorale cantatas in that year.[3] Its third movement is the model for BWV 649.[4]
BWV 10 is a cantata for Visitation: this chorale cantata was presented during Bach's second year in Leipzig, on the Feast of the Visitation, 2 July 1724.[5] Its fifth movement is the model for BWV 648.[6]
BWV 93 is a cantata for the fifth Sunday after Trinity: first presented one week after BWV 10, on 9 July 1724, it also belongs to both the chorale cantata cycle and the second year cycle.[7] Its fourth movement is the model for BWV 647.[8]
For BWV 646 there is no extant model from which the chorale prelude may have transcribed.[13] Apart from some original manuscripts of the preceding cantata models there are no extant manuscripts of the Schübler Chorales older than their 1747–1748 printed version: Bach's only extant autograph regarding the organ versions consists of the corrections and improvements he wrote, before August 1748, in his copy of the first edition.[14]
All six Schübler Chorales are in the chorale fantasia format: this means that one of the melody lines in the setting is the relatively unadorned chorale tune, which is called cantus firmus. The two central preludes of the set (BWV 647 and 648) are four-part settings, while the others are three-part settings (trios).[14]
External audio
You may hear the Chorale Prelude For Organ, BWV 645: "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" as performed by E. Power Biggs in 1968 Here on archive.org
The chorale prelude is a transcription of "Zion hört die Wächter singen" ("Zion hears the watchmen sing"),[15] the 4th movement of the cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, which is a chorale for tenor voice accompanied by unison strings and continuo.
Wo soll ich fliehen hin (or) Auf meinen lieben Gott, BWV 646
Since no model has been found for BWV 646, most scholars assume that the source cantata is one of the 100 or so believed to have been lost. The trio scoring of the movement suggests the original may have been for violin, or possibly violins and violas in unison (right hand), and continuo (left hand), with the chorale (pedal) sung by soprano or alto.
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Reception
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In Bach's Nekrolog the Schübler Chorales were listed as the fifth item, after the four Clavier-Übung volumes, among the composer's printed works: "Sechs dreystimmige Vorspiele, vor eben so viel Gesänge, für die Orgel" (lit. 'six three-part preludes, to as many hymns, for the organ').[16] In 1776 Johann Friedrich Köhler [wikisource:de] wrote admiringly about the chorales.[17] Early Bach-biographies by Hiller (1784), Gerber (1790) and Forkel (1802) listed the six chorale preludes among Bach's printed works.[18][19][20]Forkel added that they were "full of dignity and religious feeling", and mentioned that the registration was sometimes indicated by Bach in greater detail than usual, for example in the second chorale (BWV 646).[21] At least seven manuscript copies of the preludes, based on the uncorrected or corrected original print, were realised before Breitkopf & Härtel republished them in the early 19th century.[22][23]
In 1847 C. F. Peters published the six Schübler Chorales, edited by Griepenkerl and Roitzsch [scores], as part of larger sets of chorale preludes.[24] Biographers Schauer (1850), Hilgenfeldt (1850) and Bitter (1865) included the chorales in their overviews of Bach's compositions.[25][26][27]
References
^Boyd, Malcolm. Oxford Composer Companions: J.S. Bach, Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 441–442
D-LEb Thomana 10 (original performance parts, partially autograph, containing BWV 10/5, copied from the autograph score for its first performance on 2 July 1724 – description and facsimile at Bach Digital website; RISM200020894)
D-LEb Thomana 93, Fascicle 1 (original performance parts, partially autograph, containing BWV 93/4, copied for its first performance on 9 July 1724 – description and facsimile at Bach Digital website; RISM200020910)
D-LEb Thomana 137 (original performance parts, partially autograph, containing BWV 137/2, copied for its first performance on 19 August 1725 – description and facsimile at Bach Digital website; RISM200020932)
D-LEb Thomana 140 (original performance parts, partially autograph, containing BWV 140/4, copied for its first performance on 25 November 1731 – description and facsimile at Bach Digital website; RISM200020935)
US-PRscheide BWV 645-650 (original print of the Schübler Chorales with Bach's handwritten corrections and additions from before August 1748 – description at Bach Digital website)
Griepenkerl, Friedrich Konrad; Roitzsch, Ferdinand August [scores] (1847). "Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ" in Vol. 6 and "Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter", "Meine Seele erhebt den Herren", "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme", "Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten", "Wo soll ich fliehen hin (oder: Auf meinen lieben Gott)" in Vol. 7 of Johann Sebastian Bach's Compositionen für die Orgel: Kritisch-korrecte Ausgabe. Leipzig: C. F. Peters.
Löhlein, Heinz-Harald (1983: Score / 1987: Critical Commentary). "Sechs Choräle von verschiedener Art (Schübler-Choräle)", pp. 86–103 (Score) and pp. 127-172 (Critical Commentary) in Vol. 1: Orgelbüchlein – Six Chorales of Different Kinds (Schübler Chorales) – Chorale Partitas of Series IV: Organ Works of the New Bach Edition. Bärenreiter
Nies-Berger, Édouard; Schweitzer, Albert (1967). Johann Sebastian Bach: Schübler chorales - Eighteen chorales - Chorale variations, Vol. VIII of Complete Organ Works: a critico-practical edition in eight volumes. New York: G. Schirmer.
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