Chorale Prelude BWV 639. JS Bach. This piece by JS Bach is part of the Orgelbüchlein or 'little organ book' which consists of 46 short pieces called chorale preludes. These are originally pieces of organ music designed to cover the whole liturgical year and have Lutheran influences. Most of them were composed between 1708 and 1717. The chorale preludes are considered some of Bach's masterpieces on the organ.
Whilst most of the other chorales were designed to cover parts of the church calendar such as Pentecost or Christmas, Chorale BWV 639 comes under 'miscellaneous' (chorales 639 to 644) and cover a variety of themes. This Chorale is one of the most popular of the 46 pieces and has the title 'Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ' which translates as I call to you Lord jesus Christ. The feeling of the piece has been summed up as 'supplication a time of despair' and does have a very pure melancholic feeling to it. It is believed this was a piece where Bach used some of the recent innovations he had discovered with the organ.
This guitar composition by Andreas Kaeslar is a very innovative piece and makes use of some clever fingering on the guitar to transpose the piece from organ to guitar.
The hymn version has the following verse:
Lord, hear the voice of my complaint,
To Thee I now commend me,
Let not my heart and hope grow faint,
But deign Thy grace to send me.
True faith from Thee, my God, I seek,
The faith that loves Thee solely.
Keeps me lowly,
And prompt to aid the weak,
And mark each word that Thou dost speak.
LINKS TO MORE INFOMRATION ON Choral Prelude BWV 639 by JS Bach
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
JS Bach:
Johnan Sebastian Bach is possibly one of the most famous and prolific composers. He was born in Germany in the 17th century and was a well respected organist in his lifetime. But he did not become seen as one of the greatest composers until the 19th century. He is now often called a 'Baroque' era composer. He is particularly revered for his technical genius. He grew up in a religious and musical family.
Some of his most well known compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, Tocata in Fugue, the Mass in B minor and a large amount of Cantatas (over 200 hundred surviving). Due to the time he was living in much of his composing happened within the context of the church and its ceremonies and festivals. Indeed his chorales pieces are 46 compositions designed to cover the entire church year in every detail. This work was never finished but some modern composers are attempting to complete his work. Bach continues to be widely performed and adapted. Some of the more famous and irreverent modern adaptations of Bach have been by Wendy Carlos and the album 'switched on Bach'. This features electronic synthesizer renditions of well known Bach compositions and remained high in the classical music charts for several years.
Most works by JS Bach now have the letters BWV by them which refers to the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis which translates as Bach works catalogue. This was one of the largest efforts at cataloguing JS Bach's huge body of work so it is often used in identifying pieces. The total catalogue features over 1000 compositions.
Overview of how the Bach works catalogue is organized:
BWV 1–224 cantatas
BWV 225–249 choral & passion works.
BWV 250–524 chorales and sacred pieces
BWV 525–748 organ works
BWV 772–994 more keyboard works
BWV 995–1000 lute music
BWV 1001–40 chamber music
BWV 1041–71 orchestral music
BWV 1072–1126 canons and fugues.
OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION ON JOHAN SEBASTIAN BACH:
[ Ссылка ]
a growing collection of all Bach's music
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
thumbnail image
By Anna Longova - [ Ссылка ], CC0, [ Ссылка ]
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GBOsjr5vQQs/maxresdefault.jpg)