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Description: The words of the concluding Choral of the Cantata [162, "Ach, ich habe schon erblicket/ Diese große Herrlichkeit" (Ah, I have already glimpsed/ this great splendour), Trinity +16 1716, 1723]* are the seventh stanza of Johann Georg Albinus’ funerary Hymn, “Alle Menschen müssen sterben.” It was written and published for the funeral of Paul von Henssberg, a burgher of Leipzig, and was sung to Rosenmuller’s setting on that occasion (June 1, 1652). The broadsheet states that both words and music were composed in Henssberg’s honour by Johann Rosenmuller. The statement would appear to be conclusive. On the other hand, Rosenmüller is not known as a Hymn writer, and hymnologists unhesitatingly ascribe [438] the Hymn to Albinus, to whose other Hymn for the Dying, “Welt, ade!” Rosenmüller also wrote the music (see Cantata 27/5).[*Francis Browne English translation, BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale132-Eng3.htm. Source: Terry, Bach’s Chorale, Part 1:2 (Ibid: Cantata CLXII).
The chorale "Alle Menschen müssen sterben" is found in the Neu Leipzig Gesangbuch (NLGB) 1682 of Gottfried Vopelius as No. 383 under "Death and Dying" but is not designated as the hymn for any particular Sunday of the church year in Bach's favored hymn book.
Chorale Melody: Jesu, der du meine Seele, Chorale Text 2: Alle Menschen müssen sterben (All men must die)
This chorale text is generally attributed to either Johann Georg Albinus (1624-1679) or Johann Rosenmüller (1620-1684). The year of its first appearance as a text is 1652. It has always been associated with funerals and death. (By 1649 J. Rosenmüller was appointed to the official position in Leipzig of ‘Baccalaureus funerum.’)
A quotation from Martin Geck’s article on J. Rosenmüller in the MGG1 makes clear the connection between these two men as well as an important connection to J.S. Bach: “Für angesehene Leipziger Bürger komponierte er seinem Amt gemäß Begräbnislieder; den Satz »Welt ade, ich bin dein müde« auf die Worte des Freundes Johann Albinus hat J. S. Bach unverändert in seine Kantate Nr. 27 aufgenommen.” [“For respected Leipzig citizens, he {J. Rosenmüller} composed funeral/burial songs as required of him in his position. J. Rosenmüller composed the {5-pt.} setting of “Welt ade, ich bin dein müde” {“Good-bye world, I’m tired of you”} [Leipzig, 1649] based upon the words of his friend, J.G. Albinus. Later J.S. Bach took J. Rosenmüller’s setting unchanged and placed it into his cantata BWV 27/6.”] However, this melody and text are entirely unique as is also, as far as I can determine, J. Rosenmüller’s 5-pt. setting of “Alle Menschen müssen sterben” [Leipzig, 1652], the melody of which is not to be confused with any of the Jesu, der du meine Seele melodies.
Source: BCW Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works, Jesu, der du meine Seele, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Jesu-der-du-meine-Seele.htm .
Bach Chorale BWV 262 to Albinius/ Rosenmüller text
Bach's other setting, Melody No. 3 (2nd Alternate), is found in the four-part plain chorale, "Alle Menschen müssen sterben," BWV 262 in D Major. The melodic source is Jacob Hintze, Berlin 1678. J. Rosenmüller "The NBA no longer recognizes this as a work by Bach. It is quite obviously a setting by Johann Pachelbel from 1683: Chorale Partita with 8 variations or `Partiten.' The set of variations is introduced by a 4-pt. setting that is authentically by J. Pachelbel (with a subtitle: "Jesu, der du meine Seele.")," says the BCW article, “Musical Context of Bach Cantatas, Motets & Chorales for 20th Sunday after Trinity,” http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/M&C-Trinity20.htm . A recording of this simple harmonization, BWV 262, is found on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2FKVsLW2hU
Chorale BWV 262 also is recorded in the Hänssler Complete Bach Edition, Book of Chorale Settings, CD Volume 85, "Dying, Death & Eternity," with translations of Stanza 1 as well as Stanza 4, "Dar wird sein das Freudenleben" (There [heaven] will be the joyful life). The <omne tempore> theme of Death& Dying" is the penultimate thematic section in the <NLGB> and features various death lullabies, similar in tone to "Jesu, der du meine Selle, that begin with graphic descriptions of death, moving from sadness to joy. The final thematic section is a summary of the hymn book, "Recent Days, Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Life." lthough the hymn was harmonized by J. Pachelbel (1653-1706), it has various connections to J.S. Bach and it is possible that J.S. Bach used it, since it survived in Bach's "complete" chorale collection (1784-87), compiled by son Carl Philipp Emmanuel from his father's vocal works and published by Breitkopf in Leipzig. Bach's brother and teacher Johann Christoph (1671-1721) was a student of Pachelbel and also copied various organ works. This practice suggests that Bach may have composed a number of his free-standing, four-part chorale harmonization, BWV 252-439, not necessarily to close now-lost service cantatas but as organ introductions to chorale preludes (Pachelbel), as pedagogical compositions to guide less-talented organists similar to Bach's short chorale preludes (Wolff-Zepp,< The Organs of JS Bach>, Univ. of Illinois, 2012: xviii), and as templates particularly for service free-improvisation of talented organists on major instruments (IMHO).
Sebastian also used harmonized chorale settings of other composers in his works, mostly notably, "Welt Ade, ich bin deine Müde" (Welt, ade! ich bin dein müde" (World, farewell! I am weary of you) in the 1682 NLGB No. 372 (Death & Dying) publication of the Albinius/Rosenmuller 1649 text to the melody harmonized by Rosenmuller. It also is known as "Alle Menschen müssen sterben" with "connections" to Rist's hymn "Jesu, der du meine Selle" as well as "Wachet doch, erwacht, ihr Schläfer" " (Wake up yet, awaken, you sleepers), says BCW (Ibid.) This setting closes Cantata BWV 27, "Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende!" (Who knows how near is my end), composed to a composite text for the 16th Sunday after Trinity in 1726.
Bach harmonized at least five sacred songs with the shared theme “Death & Dying” and “Patience & Serenity,” particularly in the middle 1730s for the home devotional Schmelli Gesangbuch (SG) of 1736. It has 954 song texts with melodies and bass, with its focus on death songs and similar themes. The SG, for the Frankfurt and Leipzig Easter Fairs in 1736, also includes the Albinius 7-stanza text in a variant with textual divergences from Kuhnau’s cantata. The sacred death songs Bach set in the SG are: “Komm, süßer Tod” (Come, sweetest death, anonymous text); BWV 478(SG); “Gib dich zufieden und sei Stille” (Be content and be silent, Paul Gerhardt); BWV 315(PC), BWV 460(SG), BWV 511-12(S,bc;); “Nicht so traurig, nich so sehr” (Be not so sad, be not so much. Gerhardt); BWV 384(PC), BWV 489(SG); and “Ich halte treulich still” (I keep faithfully still, J.H. Till); BWV 466(SG). A similar song of death and dying, not found in the SG, is the chorale “Herr, wie” du willt, so sichts mit mir” (Lord, deal with me as you wish, anonymous) NLGB No. 349; CC BWV 73/1; BWV 339(PC).
Sources: NBA, vols. III/2.1 & 2.2 in particular [Bärenreiter, 1954 to present] and the BWV ("Bach Werke Verzeichnis") [Breitkopf & Härtel]; NBA KB-I/10 (Cantatas for Easter Tuesday, Alfred Dürr, 1956), Bach Compendium BC A 61 & A 171.
Prepared by William Hoffman and Francis Browne 2014
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