You know you have reached perfection of design not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away. - Antoine de Saint Exupery
2005, June 03
Schübler chorale 5, BWV 649
Lord Jesus Christ, with us abide (Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ)
This is the fifth Schübler chorale, BWV 649, based on the melody "Wo soll ich fliehen hin".
The chorale melody is by an anonymous composer. It is an old melody, Parvulus nobis nascitur, used as Alto part of four part setting by Seth Calvisius, in his hymnal Hymni sacri Latini et germanici, published in Erfurt in 1594.
The form of the organ chorale is A-chorale-A. This is one of my favorite Bach pieces.
| The music: | BWV 649 | The cantus firmus in the pedal. | |
| BWV 6.3 | A soprano aria from BWV 6. | ||
| BWV 253 | A four part harmonization of the chorale melody. | ||
| BWV 414 | A four part harmonization of the chorale melody. |
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:
Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ
Danket dem Herrn heut und allzeit
Parvulus nobis nascitur
Uns ist ein Kindlein heut gebor'n
Lord Jesus Christ, with us abide
A child is born to us this day
Discussion from the Bach Cantatas website
Discussion from the website of Emmanuel Music of Boston
The Organ Music of J.S. Bach, 2nd ed.
Peter Williams, Cambridge University Press 2003
