Increasingly, J.S. Bach departed from his NLGB directory and pursued sacred songs from other hymnbooks, occasionally writing his own melodies to various published hymn texts.3 There are four melodies in the Clavierbüchlein for Anna Magdalena Bach (1725-1732); hymn “Drum schließ ich mich in deine Hände”, motet BWV 229, “Komm, Jesu, Komm,” (before 1732); “Hilf, Herr Jesu, laß gelingen,” BWV 248/42 (1734-1735) and BWV 344 (Johann Rist, 1642 New Years text); 19 melodies with figured bass in Schemelli-Gesangbuch (1736); two recently discovered chorales, “Denket doch, ihr Menschenkinder,” BWV 1122, and “Welt, tobe, wie du willst,” BC F198 (Zahn 2934); and four other melodies unknown except in J.S. Bach settings of pietist texts: BWV 357, “Jesu, Jesu, du bist mein” (anon. text 1687); BWV 384, “Nicht so traurig, nicht so sehr” (Paul Gerhardt, 1647 text); BWV 400, “O Herzensangst, O Bangigkeit un Zagen” (D. Gerhardt Müller, 1700 text); and BWV 423, “Was betrübst du dich, mein Herz” (Zacharias Hermann, 1690 text).
Source: Chorales: Psalms, Christian Life, Troubles, Thanks, Weddings (William L. Hoffman, July 28, 2017) |