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Chorales
2009, August 17
BWV 437 We Believe in One God
There are differences in the notation of BWV 437 between editions.
BWV 437, Wir glauben all' an einen Gott (We all believe in one God), is a four part chorale, part of the Credo. It is a modal chorale in Dorian. The melody is also the basis of BWV 680 and 681, part of Bach's German Organ Mass from the Clavierübüng III.
The EMB, the Musica Budapest edition, has a C natural on the 4th beat of the 4th measure in the soprano part. All other editions show a C sharp on this note. I have gone with the C sharp, making the chord A major. I believe this is a typographical error in the EMB. If anybody has information to the contrary, please let me know.
Likewise, in the EMB, the eighth note on the beginning of the 4th beat of measure 30 in the alto is marked C natural. All other editions have a C sharp on this note. I have gone with a C sharp. I think this is less likely to be a typographical error in the EMB, since the note is clearly marked with a natural sign, whereas the note in the 4th measure is simply not marked with a sharp.
I am not sure what to make of all this.
2009, July 14
One hundred files to go
Major milestone.
Today a significant milestone has been reached; out of all the midi files on JSBChorales.net, there are only 100 left to be revised. Hopefully this project will be completed this year.
There are some leftover things to do, particularly the making of the mp3 files for the earlier files that were not done at the time they were revised. That may take into next year, God willing.
2009, June 24
BWV 328
"Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir"
Nordic Chamber Choir, Nicol Matt; Soloists of the Freiburger Barockorchester
I have 110 chorales left to revise and correct. I have reached BWV 328, a very long chorale by Martin Luther which has 106 measures with all repeats. Here is a performance by the Nordic Chamber Choir.
2009, June 23
BWV 324 Meine Seele erhebet den Herren
Four different version?
BWV 324, "Meine Seele erhebet den Herren" is a four part treatment of the Magnificat, based on an old plain chant. Each of my four editions have a different version of measures six, seven and eight. This is because there are eleven verses, each of which has a diffent number of syllables in the words of these measures. In the manner of plain chant, these words are sung as if spoken, on the pitch indicated, without a beat, or metric division. So the version of these measures will depend on which verse is being sung.
