Chorale Melody - Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten

Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten
Melody & Text \| Use of the CM by Bach \| Use of the CM by other composers

Melody & Text: Zahn: 2778 \| EKG: 298
Georg Neumark (1621-1681) documented first printing in “Fortgepflantzter Musikalisch-Poetischer Lustwald,” [Jena, 1657], but the origin of the text and melody can be traced back to Kiel in 1641. There is a very interesting story concerning the background to this particular chorale melody (and text). Unfortunately, this article on Neumark’s life excludes any mention of his musical abilities as a musician and composer: 1. he played the viola da gamba excellently; 2. as a composer he was influenced by the works of Heinrich Albert. 3. he composed additional ritornelli for his songs, often scored for two violins and bc., but also choral works with instrumental introductions and ritornelli; 4. he composed dance mvts. with Polish-type dance rhythms changing from 4/4 in the ‘Vortanz’ to triple time in the ‘Nachtanz.’ In the 19^th century, Johannes Zahn collected 10 different chorale melodies that can be attributed to Georg Neumark. Two of these, the present one and another entitled “Ich lasse Gott in allem walten,” are considered to be of the highest quality in text and music and can easily be compared to the best efforts by Paul Gerhardt and Paul Flemming. It would appear from the MGGI’s description of Neumark’s song collection from 1657, that the songs included instrumental ritornelli. It would be interesting to see and/or hear Neumark’s own ritornelli associated with his own famous chorale melody.

Chorale Melody Sources:
The Original Source: It is unclear what the original combination of melody and text from Kiel, 1641, looked like. Very likely it did not include a figured bc and/or instrumental parts. Perhaps it was in the form of an “Einzelblatt” [“broadsheet/broadside”] with only the melody and text. The Jena, 1657 Source: The following representations of this source claim to be true to the original. This source is marked simply “Neumark, 1657” with the original words for the 1^st verse underneath:

This is the same in a long line format:

The EKG presently still has the following version which is claimed to be in the original form (but may have been tampered with):

From Hymnals Bach May Have Used: An important hymnal that contained both melodies and parts along with the chorale texts is the “Vopelius” Leipzig, 1682 edition. In this hymnal the melody appears as follows:

Another hymnal that Bach probably had used is the “Weißenfels, 1714” edition in which the melody appears with a 3/2 time signature:


Text 1: Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten by Georg Neumark \| EKG: 298
Georg Neumark (1621-1681), who later in life was crowned as poet and held the position of court poet in Weimar, had composed the words and music to this famous chorale after having been attacked and robbed of everything that he possessed while traveling to the University of Königsberg (Kalinengrad) and, in the aftermath of this event, experiencing a difficult winter of deprivation until he finally found a position as a private tutor in Kiel at the end of December of 1641.

Text 2: Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende by Ämilie Juliane von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Ämilie Juliane von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1637-1706), by birth a countess who was born with the title Countess of Barby in 1637 as a refugee in the fortress Heidecksburg near Rudolstadt and died as Countess von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1706. She is considered a forerunner of Pietism and wrote a number of chorale texts. This one is from 1686. The present EKG contains this chorale text with a different melody, but with the option that it might be sung to the melody of “Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten.”

Text 3: Ich armer Mensch, ich armer Sünder by Christoph Tietze (1663)
Text contained in the following hymnals that Bach may have had access to: Wagner (1697), St. Georg (1721, 1730), Vopelius (1729/30, 1737), Dresden (1725, 1728, 1738). However, it was not present as yet in the extensive hymnal with music known as the Vopelius (1682.)

Use of the Chorale Melody by Bach:
Text 1: Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten \| EKG: 298 Author: Georg Neumark (1641)
Ver	Work	Mvt.	Year	Br	RE	KE	Di	BC	Score		Music Examples
2&5	BWV 21	Mvt. 9	1714	-	-	-	-	A99:9			Mvt. 9 (Leusink) [ram]
7	BWV 88	Mvt. 7	1726	104	368	104	-	A105:7	PDF		Mvt. 7 (MG) [midi] \| Mvt. 7 (Leusink) [ram]
1	BWV 93	Mvt. 1	1724	-	-	-	-	A104:1			Mvt. 1 (Leusink) [ram]
7 & final	BWV 93	Mvt. 7	1724	-	369	-	-	A104:7	PDF		Mvt. 7 (MG) [midi] \| Mvt. 7 (Leusink) [ram]
7 or last	BWV 197	Mvt. 10	1736-37	66	370	62	-	B16:10	PDF		Mvt. 10 (MG) [midi] \| Mvt. 10 (Leusink) [ram]
BWV 197/10: Bach did not indicate which of the 3 chorale texts available to him he wanted with this CM. According to NBA KB the 7^th or last verse of Neumark’s hymn is the best possible text to fit the missing text in this wedding cantata.






Text 2: Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende Author: Ämilie Juliane von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1686)
Ver	Work	Mvt.	Year	Br	RE	KE	Di	BC	Score		Music Examples
1	BWV 27	Mvt. 1	1726	-	-	-	-	A138:1			Mvt. 1 (Leusink) [ram]
12	BWV 84	Mvt. 5	1727	112	373	112	30	A43:5	PDF		Mvt. 5 (MG) [midi] \| Mvt. 5 (Leusink) [ram]
1	BWV 166	Mvt. 6	1724	204	372	204	-	A71:6	PDF		Mvt. 6 (MG) [midi] \| Mvt. 6 (Leusink) [ram]




Text 3: Ich armer Mensch, ich armer Sünder Author: Christoph Tietze (1663)
Ver	Work	Mvt.	Year	Br	RE	KE	Di	BC	Score		Music Examples
1	BWV 179	Mvt. 6	1723	338	371	339	75	A121:6	PDF		Mvt. 6 (MG) [midi] \| Mvt. 6 (Leusink) [ram]


Untexted: Originally as vocal works or contained in them or supporting them, but appearing as instrumental settings or parts:
Ver	Work	Mvt.	Year	Br	RE	KE	Di	BC	Score	Music Examples
4	BWV 93	Mvt. 4	1724	-	-	-		A104:4		Mvt. 4 (Leusink) [ram]
?	BWV 434	-	?	146	367	146	47	F205.1	PDF	Chorale (MG) [midi]
-	BWV 642	-	1714	-	-	-		K71		Chorale (MG) [midi]
-	BWV 647	-	After 1746	-	-	-		K24		Chorale (MG) [midi]
?	BWV 690	-	?	-	-	-		K127		Chorale (MG) [midi]
-	BWV 691	-	?	-	-	-		K99		Chorale (MG) \| Chorale (MG) orn [midi]








Use of the Chorale Melody by other composers:
Johann Samuel Welter (1650-1720): Cantata Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten for C., A., T., B., 2 Violins, 2 Va. da gamba, Violone, Bc-Organo
Georg Böhm (1661-1733): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten , Chorale Prelude for Keyboard
Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1679-1735): A Chorale Prelude for Organ on “Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten” in 3 sections with two marked “Alio modo” contained in “Harmonische Seelenlust” [Leipzig, 1733]. See: Score Sample from Part 3

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767): Cantata Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten (1722)
Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten a Chorale Prelude for Organ

Gottfried Kirchhoff (1685-1746): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, Chorale Prelude for Organ (with the cantus firmus appearing unembellished in the pedal in the style of Johann Pachelbel.)
Johann Peter Kellner (or Keller) (1705-1772): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, Chorale Prelude for Organ
Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-1780): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, Chorale Prelude for Organ
Gottfried August Homilius (1714-1785): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, Chorale Prelude for Organ
Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721-1783): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten , Chorale Prelude for Organ

Johann Balthasar Kehl (1725-1778): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, Chorale Prelude for Organ, contained in Erste, Zweyte, Dritte, Vierte Sammlung einiger variirender Choräle [Nürnberg, 1764]

Michael Haydn (1737-1806): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten for 2 Sopranos and Orchestra(?) (c1795)
Franz Anton Rösler (also known as Francesco Antonio Rosetti) (1750-1792): Chorale Setting of Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt (probably for brass instruments) lost
Friedrich Wilhelm Berner (1780-1827): Chorale Prelude for Organ on Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten contained in 8 Choralzwischenspiele
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, Chorale Cantata for Solo Voice, Chorus, Strings and Continuo (1829)
Franz Liszt (1811-1886): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten Nr. 11 of the “Zwölf alte deutsche geistliche Weisen” (1878-1879) for Piano.
Gottfred Matthison-Hansen (1832-1909): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, Paraphrase for Organ op. 37
Friedrich Wilhelm Franke (1862-1932): Chorale Variations on Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten
Georg Schumann (1866-1952): Variations on Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten for Organ and Orchestra, Op. 24
Curt Doebler (1896-1970): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, Cantata for mixed choir a cappella
Alfred von Beckerath (1901-1978): Chorale Fantasia on Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten for Organ
Willy Burkhard (1900-1955): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, Partita for Organ (1932)
Ernst Pepping (1901-1981): Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, Partita for Organ (1932)

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 (September 2005)

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

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Last update: ýApril 16, 2006 ý14:49:39