playlist | J. S. Bach’s Orgelbüchlein complete

J. S. Bach’s Orgelbüchlein (BWV 599–644) is a collection of short organ pieces assembled while Bach was employed (1708–17) as organist to the court of William Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1662–1728) in Weimar. Later, when organist at St Thomas Leipzig (from 1723) he added BWV 613 to the collection and revised BWV 620 & 631.

Purpose
Bach’s purpose  was to assemble 164 works in a variety of styles, all based on pre-existing Lutheran hymn-tunes, and arranged according to the Church’s calendar. The collection would serve Bach not only in church services as preludes to hymn singing but also as models in his teaching of the organ and of composition. Alas, the project remained incomplete at the composer’s death.

Organisation
Bach arranged his collection by the liturgical seasons and concluded with some general hymns, as follows:
– Advent: BWV 599–602 | – Christmas: BWV 603–612 | – New Year:   BWV613–615 | – Purification: BWV 616–617 | – Passiontide: BWV 618–624 | – Easter: BWV 625–630 | – Pentecost: BWV 631–634 | – Catechism: BWV 635–638 | – General: BWV 639–644.
NB BWV 613 was added years later, when Back was in Leipzig.

• Playlist: I recorded the following playlist during the UK’s various Covid-related restrictions of 2020–22. 
• Click on a title to start listening

• The organ at Weimar in Bach’s day.

The organ in the Prince’s chapel (the Schlosskirche) in Weimar was built in 1658 by Ludwig Compenius (1603–71), then repaired and rebuilt in 1708 by Johann Conrad Weißhaupt (1659–1727). Further work was done 1713–14 and 1719–20. by Heinrich Nikolaus Trebs (1678–1738) The instrument was placed in a gallery sixty-five feet above floor level. This dramatic arrangement drew on the distinctly Lutheran architectural design known as ‘Kanzelaltar’ [pulpit altar]which placed organ, pulpit and altar directly above one another as a single focal point, allowing the merging of heavenly music and earthly exposition to direct the faithful. The chapel and organ were destroyed by fire in 1774.

The earliest preserved stop list dates from 1730.

Unterwerk	Oberwerk	Pedal
1. Prinzipal 8′ 2. Gedackt 8′ 3. Viol di Gambe 8′ 4. Oktave 4′ 5. Kleingedackt 4′ 6. Waldflöte 2′ 7. Sesquialtera II 8. Trompete 8′	9. Quintation 16′ 10. Principal 8” 11. Gedackt 8′ 12. Genshorn 8′ 13. Oktave 4” 14. Quintadena 4′ 15. Mixture VI 16. Cymbel III 17. Glockenspiel	17. Groß Untersatz 32′ 18. Violon-Baß 16′ 19. Subbaß 16′ 20. Principal Baß 8′ 21. Posaun-Baß 16′ 22. Trompeta-Baß 8′ 23. Cornett-Baß 4′

Manual couplers:UW/OW, UW/P, OW/P

• Useful  reading
  – (—–) ‘Weimar, Ehemalige Schlosskirche’. Organ Index. Online resource, accessed 1 December 2024.
  – Jon Laukvik. Historical Performance Practice in Organ Playing. Vol.1: The Baroque and Classical Periods. (Stuttgart: Carus, 1996).
  – Anna Steppler  ‘Why the Organ Split the Church […] What place was there for the organ in the Reformation church?’ History Today 74. 12 December 2024. Online resource, accessed 1 January 2024.
  – George B. Stauffer. J.S. Bach: the organ works (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024)
  – John Scott Whiteley ‘Hermeneutics surrounding the Orgelbüchlein’ RCO Journal (Volume 11, 2017) 5-30.
  – Peter Williams. The Organ Music of J. S. Bach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)
  – Christoph Wolff. The Organs of J.S. Bach : A Handbook (Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2012). Online resource, accessed 1 December 2024. Technical notes.
  

– Edition: Johann Sebastian Bach Orgelbüchlein. (Ed. Heinz-Harald Lohlein)  Series: Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke. IV/i. BA5171. (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1984, repr. 1997)
– Temperament: Werckmeister III; pitch A=440
– Organ: Viscount Sonus 60
– Microphone: Zoom Q2N-4K
– Recordings: ©Andrew Pink. All rights reserved.
Creative Commons licence: [Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International]

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