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

Melody & Text: Zahn: 2496c | EKG: 245 (only 10 verses of the original)

Melody:

This melody is a contrafact of the secular song Es ist nicht lang, daß es geschah (“It’s not long ago that this happened”) also known or identified as the Lindenschmied-Weise (either ‘Mr. Lindenschmied’s melody’ or ‘the tune sung by the blacksmith who has his shop next to the linden or lime tree’). This melody can be traced back to south Germany around 1490. The melody later appears in 1530 with the text by Georg Grünwald as a broadside entitled Ain schöns newes Christlichs Lyed (“A nice, new Christian song”) published within the circle of the Mennonites or Baptists.

[In the EKG this melody is also used for chorale text by Jakob Fabricius (1593-1654) Verzage nicht, du Häuflein klein EKG 211 and by Jochen Klepper (1903-1942) Der du die Zeit in Händen hast EKG 45.]

Text:

The author of this text is Georg Grünwald, a shoemaker from Kitzbühl in the Tyrol (Austria) who, in 1530, was burned at the stake in Kufstein (Tyrol) for has beliefs as an Anabaptist.

Originally this chorale text had at least 16 verses of which only 10 remain in the current EKG hymnal.

Use of the Chorale Melody by Bach:

Text 1: Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn | EKG: 245
Author: Georg Grünwald (1530)

Ver

Work

Mvt.

Year

Br

RE

KE

Di

BC

Score

Music Examples

16

BWV 86

Mvt. 3

1724

-

-

-

-

A73:3

-

Mvt. 3 (Leusink) [ram]

Text 2: Gott Vater, sende deinen Geist | EKG:
Author: Paul Gerhardt (1653)

Ver

Work

Mvt.

Year

Br

RE

KE

Di

BC

Score

Music Examples

2

BWV 74

Mvt. 8

1725

369

223

370

112

A83:8

PDF

Mvt. 8 (MG) [midi] | Mvt. 8 (Leusink) [ram]

10

BWV 108

Mvt. 6

1725

46

224

45

98

F128
A72:6

PDF

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

Use of the Chorale Melody by other composers:

Arnold von Bruck (1500 (?) - 1554):
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, 4-pt. vocal setting contained in Georg Rhau’s Newe deudsche Geistliche Gesenge (1544)

Orlando di Lasso (c1532-1594):
Kommt her zu mir, lied for 5 voices, S. xviii/73 (1572)

Melchior Vulpius (c1560-1615):
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, 4-pt vocal setting (1609)

Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612):
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, 4-pt. setting

Michael Praetorius (1571-1621):
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, 4-pt. vocal setting in Musae Sioniae VII

Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630):
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, hymn for SATB [bc] (1627)

Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654):
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, 4-pt. setting from the Görlitz Tabulaturbuch (1650)

Dietrich Buxtehude (c1637-1707):
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, Chorale Prelude for Organ in G minor, BuxWV 201

Johann Michael Bach (1648-1694):
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, Chorale Prelude for Organ

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706):
Sacred Concerto Kommt her zu mir (Text by J.M. Dilher and Johann Franck), 4 vocal parts, 2 violins, 2 ?cornetts, bc, T. 377
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, Chorale Prelude for Organ, T. 52

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767):
Cantata Kommt her zu mir (Neumeister), for 4 vocal parts, 2 oboes, strings, bc, TWV 1:1007 (1720)
Cantata Kommt her zu mir (Neumeister), for 4 vocal parts, 2 oboes, strings, bc, TWV 1:1008 (1720)

Johann Balthasar König (1691-1758):
Cantata Kommt her zu mir

Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-1780):
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, Chorale Prelude for Organ with Oboe
Fantasia on Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, for organ & horn obbligato

Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1679-1735):
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, Chorale Prelude for Organ (Leipzig, 1733)

Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843-1900):
Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn, motet for chorus, Op. 102/1

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 (April 2006)

Chorales BWV 250-438
Recordings | General Discussions: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Chorales in Bach Cantatas: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Hidden Chorale Melody Allusions | Passion Chorale
Individual Recordings: Hilliard - Morimur | Chorales - Matt | Chorales - Rilling | Preludi ai Corali - Quartetto Italiani di Viola Da Gamba
References: Chorales BWV 250-300 | Chorales BWV 301-350 | Chorales BWV 351-400 | Chorales BWV 401-438
Texts & English Translations of Chorales: Sorted by Title
Chorale Melodies: Sorted by Title | Explanation
MIDI files of the Chorales: Cantatas BWV 1-197 | Other Vocal Works BWV 225-248 | Chorales BWV 250-438
Articles: The Origin of the Texts of the Chorales [Schweitzer] | The Origin of the Melodies of the Chorales [Schweitzer] | The Chorale in the Church Service [Schweitzer] | Choral / Chorale [Terry]
Hymnals used by Bach | Abbreviations used for the Chorales | Links to other Sites about the Chorales

Chorale Melodies: Sorted by Title | 371 4-Part Chorales sorted by Breitkopf Number | Explanation

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