The chorale prelude, Helft mir Gottes Güte preisen, is the first of three celebrating the New Year. Although it is only number 15 in the collection, it was one of the last to be written. Intending Orgelbüchlein to be compendium of chorales for the whole church year, Bach began composing in around 1713, and wrote out the title of each of the 164 Chorales he wished to include. Only 46 were completed by him (with a sketch for one other) so there are 118 ‘ghost’ chorales awaiting completion. Bach returned to the Orgelbüchlein briefly when he was in Leipzig, around 1726, and added this setting to the manuscript.

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