Trio super Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend

Johann  Sebastian  Bach probably wrote the Great Eighteen Chorales, soon
after 1708, when he moved to Weimar.  He then revised them,  during  the
years  1739‐1742  and  1746‐1747,  while he was in Leipzig, and they are
sometimes known as the Eighteen Leipzig Chorales.  Both versions can  be
seen  in  the  Bach‐Gesellschaft  edition,  or  reprinted  in  the Dover
edition, and they confirm Forkel's observation "comparing together  many
copies  of  his  principal  works, written in different years, I confess
that I have often felt both surprise and delight at the means  which  he
employed  to  make,  little by little, the faulty good, the good better,
and the better perfect  . . .  Even commonplace passages are  frequently
changed  into  the  most  elegant  by changing, taking away, or adding a
single note."

Number 5 of the Eighteen Chorales is a trio on the hymn‐tune  Herr  Jesu
Christ, dich zu uns wend, BWV 655.  It fits particularly well onto flute
and piano.  The top two voices share the same register,  and  frequently
cross, so they need different tone‐colours.  Just a few beats in bars 50
and 51 need to be exchanged between voices; if this arrangement is being
played  on  violin  and piano the original in small notes can be played.
The running semiquaver scales are Bach's characteristic motif expressing
happiness,  as  is the quaver rhythm in the bass, for example from bar 6
to bar 7.

The flute trill in bar 62 should start from below, starting with d e  f#
e.   For  more practical performance, a separate piano part is supplied,
with a convenient page turn.  The piano  fingering  may  be  disregarded
with a clear conscience.  Bach's SATB setting of the hymn is included.

  *  Johann Sebastian Bach, Albert Schweizer, Breitkopf and Härtel

  *  Johann  Sebastian  Bach,  Albert  Schweizer,  translated  by Ernest
     Newmann, Dover

  *  Johann Sebastian Bach Organ Music, 1970, Dover Press

  *  Johann Sebastian Bach, Christoph  Wolff,  2001,  Oxford  University
     Press

  *  J.  S.  Bach,  388 Four‐Part Chorales edited by János Dobra, Editio
     Musica Budapest

                             ‐2‐

                    Peter J Billam,   www.pjb.com.au