Orgelbüchlein Chorale prelude. Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 610
Johann Sebastian Bach
“Jesu, meine Freude” is a hymn in German, written by Johann Franck in 1650, with a melody, Zahn No. 8032, by Johann Crüger. Jesu, meine Freude first appeared in Crüger's hymnal Praxis pietatis melica in 1653.
If you sing all the parts that follow, not only will you improve your sight singing, clef read, and transposition skills, but will definitely hear all the parts much better when the choral prelude is played at the end. Some may hear only one part clearly. Others, two parts. Some may hear three parts all at once. And others may hear all four parts. The skill can constantly be improved.
Soprano clef exercises from the Manuel Pratique by Georges Dandelot
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Alto Clef exercises from the Manuel Pratique by Georges Dandelot
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Tenor Clef exercises from the Manuel Pratique by Georges Dandelot
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Bass Clef exercises from the Manuel Pratique by Georges Dandelot
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Orgelbüchlein Chorale preludes
The Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book) BWV 599 −644 is a set of 46 chorale preludes for organ - one of them is given in two versions - by Johann Sebastian Bach. All but three were written between 1708 and 1717 when Bach served as organist to the ducal court in Weimar; the remainder and a short two-bar fragment came no earlier than 1726, after the composer’s appointment as cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig.
The plan was for a collection of 164 settings of chorale tunes sung during the Church year so that each part of the year was represented. This number was not to be. The manuscript, which is now in the Staatsbibliothek, leaves a number of tunes as missing or "ghost" pieces. These have been added in the 21st century;[1] this project took nine hours in the first complete performance, giving an idea of the potential scope of Bach's "little" book. The Orgelbüchlein as Bach left it is about 80 minutes. However, it spans the calendar and more importantly signals a maturity and new breadth in his compositional style, not only with regard to this instrument.
Each setting takes an existing Lutheran chorale, adds a motivic accompaniment, and quite freely explores form. Many of the preludes are short and in four parts, requiring only a single keyboard and pedal, with an unadorned cantus firmus. Others involve two keyboards and pedal. These include several canons, four ornamental four-part preludes with elaborately decorated chorale lines, and one prelude in trio sonata form.
A further step towards perfecting this form was taken by Bach when he made the contrapuntal elements in his music a means of reflecting certain emotional aspects of the words. Pachelbel had not attempted this; he lacked the fervid feeling which would have enabled him thus to enter into his subject. And it is entering into it, and not a mere depicting of it. For, once more be it said, in every vital movement of the world external to us we behold the image of a movement within us; and every such image must react upon us to produce the corresponding emotion in that inner world of feeling.