rssHow Brightly Beams the Morning Star
How Brightly Beams the Morning Star (Wie schön leuchtet der morgenstern)
This chorale melody is attributed to Philipp Nicolai (1544-1608), in 1599. Charles Sanford Terry comments that "it is improbable that Nicolai composed the melody" but rather more likely that he adjusted older material to his hymn. Terry goes on to state that the melody bears a partial resemblance to a 14th century carol, Resonet in laudibus.
Resonet in laudibus, harmonized by Ralph Vaughn Williams
According to Terry, the source of the hymn text is Psalm 45, but I personally cannot see a connection.
Besides the pieces below, the melody also appears in BWV 37.3 as a soprano and alto duet, and in BWV 49.6 where it is an aria duet for soprano and bass.
| The music: | BWV 1.1 | The opening chorale of Cantata 1. A complex chorale fantasia with the chorale in the soprano part. | BWV 1.6 | The final chorale of Cantata 1. The soprano part is doubled by the first horn and the first violin. The alto part is doubled by the second violin and the first oboe da caccia. The tenor part is doubled by the viola and the second oboe da caccia. |
| BWV 36(2).4 | Another four part chorale. | ||
| BWV 61.6 | This piece uses the final Amen from the chorale. | ||
| BWV 172.6 | A violin obbligato part accompanies this 4 part chorale, "How Brightly Shines the Morning Star". This is the final chorale of Cantata 172, "Erschallet, ihr Lieder" or "Ring Out, Songs, Resound". | ||
| BWV 172.6, Vocal parts | The four part harmonization without the violin. | ||
| BWV 172.6, violin obbligato | Violin part only. | ||
| BWV 436 | A four part chorale. |
MP3 files of these chorales are available. If you want one, leave me a note in a comment with your email address and I will send it. Unfortunately, the files are too large to put them on my ftp server for general distribution.
Some names under which this chorale is known:
Wie schön leuchtet der morgenstern
How Brightly Beams the Morning Star
Discussions from the Bach Cantatas website:
Discussions from the Emmanuel Music website:
BWV 1
BWV 36
BWV 61
BWV 172 (translation)
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