Bach, Das Orgelbüchlein (6 Advent and Christmas Chorale Preludes)

J. S. Bach composed a more or less unbroken stream of music for organ and harpsichord throughout his professional life. But his time in Weimar, from 1708 to 1717, marks a particularly fruitful period for organ music.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Bach made a clear distinction between music written for organ as opposed to harpsichord. He gradually discarded the models of his predecessors that influenced his early works, bringing more formal cohesion to the two-part prelude and fugue, expanding the harmonic vocabulary, and introducing more virtuosity.

Bach also brought his own vision to the form of chorale prelude, relatively short works that embellish a hymn tune, or key motives of the tune, with highly developed counterpoint. An important collection of chorale preludes, Das Orgelbüchlein (little organ book), was completed in Weimar. Bach initially intended 164 separate chorale preludes to cover all parts of the liturgical year, but the final collection consists of only 46.

Bach was a court musician in Weimar working for the Duke. Among his duties, he played the organ high in the loft of the court chapel inside the Schloss. Bach dubbed the loft his “Himmelburg” (castle of Heaven). The chapel burned in 1774 but is now being reconstructed virtually.

The Schloss is just around the corner from our apartment in Weimar.

It looked a bit different in Bach’s time, but not too much so.