Melody & Text | Use of the CM by Bach | Use of the CM by other composers

Melody & Text: Zahn: 7292b | EKG: 166

Text:

Konrad Huber(t) (1507-1577) Verses 1-3 only. The 4^th verse is a doxology (anonymous) that was added in Nürnberg, 1540, which is also the earliest documentation of Hubert’s text as well.

Konrad Hubert was born in Bergzabern (in the Palatinate) in 1507. In 1531 he was a vicar at St. Thomas Church in Straßburg where he worked alongside Martin Bucers, but when the latter died Hubert was forced out of his position since he was a ‘free’ preacher. He was the editor of the Straßburg hymnal of 1572 and died in 1577. Another chorale text by Hubert which is still in the current German Evangelical Lutheran hymnal is EKG 143: O Gott, du höchster Gnadenhort (not set by Bach, however).

Melody:

The earliest documentation of this melody (anonymous) is found on a broadside entitled Eyn schön Lied, published in Wittenberg in 1541.

Some early examples of the melody:

One of the earliest settings is by Sethus Calvisius (1556-1615) and can be traced back to 1597. Peter Williams includes a modified form of this in his “The Organ Music of J S. Bach” 2^nd Edition, Cambridge, 2003, p.554. An additional ending from a different hymnal source agrees with the Calvisius version/modification except for the concluding line.

The original, unmodified Calvisius melody taken from the original source appears this way:

The melody as it appears in a 5-pt. setting by Martin Zeuner circa 1600 is recorded here:

An almost contemporaneous version of the melody is supplied by Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) in a 4-pt. setting from 1609:

In the middle of the 17^th century, Samuel Scheidt provides the state of this CM in his Tabulaturbuch (Görlitz, 1650) in his 4-pt. setting:

A hymnal version with which Bach may have been acquainted is the Gotha hymnal from 1715 where the melody appears thus:

Use of the Chorale Melody by Bach:

Text: Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ | EKG: 166
Author: Konrad Hubert (1540)

Ver

Work

Mvt.

Year

Br

RE

KE

Di

BC

Score

Music Examples

1

BWV 33

Mvt. 1

1724

-

-

-

-

A127:1

-

Mvt. 1 (Leusink) [ram]

3~

BWV 33

Mvt. 5

1724

-

-

-

-

A127:5

-

Mvt. 5 (Leusink) [ram]

4

BWV 33

Mvt. 6

1724

13

16

13

80

A127:6

PDF

Mvt. 6 (MG) [midi] | Mvt. 6 (Leusink) [ram]

BWV 33/5: from a paraphrase of verse 3 by Konrad Hubert’s Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ a modified quotation of the CM as a basis for the main subject (motto).
BWV 33/6: Verse 4 - Doxology (Nürnberg, 1540).

Untexted:

Ver

Work

Mvt.

Year

Br

RE

KE

Di

BC

Score

Music Examples

-

BWV 261

-

?

358

15

359

-

F11:1

PDF

Chorale (MG) [midi]

-

BWV 1100

-

b 1710

-

-

K171

-

BWV 1100: Neumeister Collection Chorale Prelude for Organ No. 11.

Use of the Chorale Melody by other composers:

Antonio Scandello (1517-1580):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Setting for 6 voices (1575)

Georg Weber (c1540-1599):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Motet for 8 voices

Martin Zeuner (1554-1619):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, 5-pt setting (c1600). See: Score

Sethus Calvisius (1556-1615):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, 4-pt. setting (1597). See: Score

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Chorale Prelude for Keyboard

Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, 4-pt. setting (1607)

Michael Praetorius (1571-1621):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, 4-pt. setting (1609). See: Score

Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Setting for SATB [bc] (1627)

Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, 4-pt. setting, SSWV 473 (1650). See: Score
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Setting for STB, bc, SSWV 230

Ewaldt Hintz (?? - after c1666):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Chorale Prelude for Organ

Johann Schop (c1590-1664/1667):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Choral Setting (from 1 to 8 pts.) with bc (Hamburg, 1644)
(This one probably is a 4-pt. setting)

Johann Heinrich Scheidemann (1595-1663):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Chorale Prelude for Organ

Peter Morhard (?? - 1685):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Chorale Prelude for Organ

Johann Michael Nicolai (1629-1685):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Setting for 10 voices + bc

Daniel Erich (c1649-1712):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Chorale Prelude for Organ

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706):
Allein zu dir. Herr Jesu Christ, 2 Chorale Preludes for Organ

One is in the cantional style, in which the three lower parts provide harmonic support devoid of any thematic involvement with the soprano melody. It occurs only in the two settings of Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, both of which are in the old white notation and are reminiscent of Scheidt’s Görlitzer Tabulatur-Buch (1650)
Author: H. Joseph Butler
Grove Music Online, © Oxford University Press, 2006, acc. 5/10,06

Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow (1663-1712):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, 2 Chorale Preludes for Organ

Andreas Armsdorff (1670-1699):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Chorale Prelude for Organ

Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1679-1735):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Chorale Prelude for Organ (Leipzig, 1733)

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Cantata (1756), TWV 1:61 (Lost)
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Cantata for 2 ob, 2 bn, 2 tpt, timp, str, bc, 1750, TWV 1:60

Johann Balthasar Christian Freißlich (1687-1764):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Chorale for Choir and Instruments

Hugo Distler (1908-1942):
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, Motet for 4 voices (1928)

Sources: NBA, vols. III/2.1 & 2.2 in particular [Bärenreiter, 1954 to present] and the BWV ("Bach Werke Verzeichnis") [Breitkopf & Härtel, 1998]
The PDF files of the Chorales were contributed by Margaret Greentree J.S. Bach Chorales
Software: Capella 2004 Software, version 5.1.
Prepared by Thomas Braatz & Aryeh Oron (May 2006)