Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes

Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes
Elias Gottlob Haussmann · Public domain · source
Name	Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes
Composer	Johann Sebastian Bach
Catalogue	BWV 651–668
Composed	1710s–1740s
Genre	Chorale prelude
Form	Organ composition
Movements	18

Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes are a canonical set of organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach compiled and revised in Leipzig during the 1740s, reflecting Bach's mature contrapuntal technique and liturgical function. The collection, drawn from earlier Weimar and Köthen sources, displays Bach's engagement with Lutheran hymnody and his responses to practices at the Thomasschule, the Nikolaikirche, and the Leipzig Collegium Musicum. These pieces influenced later organists associated with the Hamburg tradition, the North German organ school, and 19th-century figures around the Bach Revival.

History and Composition

Bach compiled the set while Thomaskantor in Leipzig, working within institutions such as the Thomasschule zu Leipzig, St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig, and consulting colleagues from the Leipzig Collegium Musicum and students like Cöthen-era associates and pupils including Johann Ludwig Krebs, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Some preludes trace back to Bach's tenure at Weimar and Köthen and show influences from composers tied to the North German organ school and the tradition of Dietrich Buxtehude, Georg Böhm, and Johann Pachelbel. Sources for the collection include manuscripts associated with copyists such as Johann Peter Kellner and patrons like the aristocracy of Anhalt-Köthen and municipal authorities in Leipzig. The compilation intersects with liturgical calendars of Lutheranism in Saxony and overlaps with works found in the Orgelbüchlein and the late organ works leading into the composition of the Art of Fugue and the Musical Offering.

Structure and Musical Analysis

Each prelude employs contrapuntal devices central to Bach's mature style, including fugue, canon, ornamented chorale, and chorale partita techniques that reflect principles found in the Well-Tempered Clavier and Clavier-Übung III. Harmonic progressions echo models from Renaissance and Baroque practice, while formal layouts connect to the tradition of the chorale fantasia and the organ models used in St. Mark's Basilica performances and North German liturgy. The preludes demonstrate integration of local organ registration practices documented in sources from Hamburg, Lübeck, and the Danish and Swedish organ-building traditions such as those by the Schnitger family and Arp Schnitger. Counterpoint in the set exhibits techniques akin to those in Johann Sebastian Bach's Fugues and shares motivic economy with movements in the Brandenburg Concertos and the St Matthew Passion. Analytical approaches by scholars connected to institutions like the Bach Gesellschaft, the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, and university departments at Leipzig University and Oxford University emphasize modal mixture, stretto, and ornamentation linking to treatises by Johann Joachim Quantz, Daniel Gottlob Türk, and Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg.

Individual Chorale Preludes (Nos. 1–18)

No. 1 opens with an ornamented soprano chorale technique related to hymn settings in the Orgelbüchlein and is paralleled in hymn treatments found in collections associated with Martin Luther and melodies from Geneva and Wittenberg. Subsequent numbers include intricate canonic writing reminiscent of The Art of Fugue contrapuntal puzzles and the ricercar tradition of Giovanni Gabrieli and Giacomo Carissimi. Several preludes (e.g., middle entries) present trio textures akin to works used in services at St. Mark's Basilica and municipal ceremonies in Leipzig and Dresden, while others adopt homophonic chorale harmonizations similar to settings by Felix Mendelssohn in his 19th-century revival. Later numbers display chorale fantasia devices paralleling examples from Johann Pachelbel manuscripts and echoing pedal idioms found in the organ literature of Buxtehude and the pedagogical canon of Nicolaus Bruhns.

Performance Practice and Instrumentation

Performance draws on historical practice from organs by builders like Arp Schnitger, Gottfried Silbermann, and representatives of the Saxon and North German schools, with registration choices documented by 18th-century writers such as Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Johann Mattheson. Interpretations vary among organists associated with conservatories like the Royal College of Music, institutions including the Eton College Chapel and the University of Leipzig, and soloists such as Albert Schweitzer advocates and modern performers tied to the Bach Revival such as Helmut Walcha, Marie-Claire Alain, Ton Koopman, and Trevor Pinnock in transcriptions. Historically informed performances consider temperaments discussed by Andreas Werckmeister and Johann Georg Neidhardt, use of articulated fingerings from treatises by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, and registration reflecting principal chorus, flute, and reed stops, as practised in liturgies at Thomasschule zu Leipzig and civic services in Hamburg.

Reception and Influence

The set shaped reception history mediated by 19th-century figures in the Bach Revival such as Felix Mendelssohn, editors of the Bach Gesellschaft, and later scholarly apparatus compiled by the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. Influence extended to organ composition in the Romantic era with echoes in works by César Franck, Louis Vierne, and pedagogues at institutions like the Paris Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Music, while modern composers including Max Reger, Paul Hindemith, and Olivier Messiaen engaged contrapuntal and chorale techniques traceable to these preludes. Performance traditions at venues like St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, festival programming of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and recordings by labels associated with major cultural institutions sustained the works' centrality in organ repertoire and liturgical practice.

Category:Compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach Category:Organ compositions