Orgelbüchlein BWV 599-644
Discussions - Part 1

BWV 622 for Strings

Richard van Schelven wrote (March 18, 2003):
I am new to list. My name is Ries and I am obviously a Bach music lover, especially organ, harpsichord, cello, violin and Lute ofcourse.

I have a quick question. I dowloaded a version of BWV 622 for orchestra. Would anybody have an idea who would have arranged that and/or recorded. I was so surprised hearing it. Maybe it sounds stupid but I thought it sounded like a superb Mahler adagio (it got that same effect on me emotionally so to speak).

Anyway, I hope to learn a lot on this list about other version of Bach's music.

With kind regards,

Rei Noel Towe wrote (March 23, 2003):
[To Richard van Schelven] I think that you are writing about the arrangement that was made by Max Reger nearly 100 years ago.

There was, as I recall, an LP recording conducted by Boyd Neel about 25 years ago, and it is included on a CD of Reger's orchestral Bach arrangements that Dennis Russell Davies mad with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra several years ago. That CD is on the MD+G label, catalogue number 321 0940-2.

The Bach Orgelbüchlein Project

Douglas Cowling wrote (January 20, 2012):
Help complete Bach's Orgelbüchlein ... http://www.orgelbuechlein.co.uk/

Ed Myskowski wrote (January 20, 2012):
[To Douglas Cowling] My personal participation will be as enthusiastic spectator, but I will twist every available arm (not the one they write with!). Keep us informed.

William L. Hoffman wrote (January 20, 2012):
[To Douglas Cowling & Ed Myskowski] ] Thank you so much, Doug and Ed, especially for the list of the "missing" OB 118, with Riemenschneider and Zahn numbers! I recently tried to get the list of the 118 on line from Riemenschneider with no luck. Incidentally, Bach did set some of them in collections (Great 18, Mass & Catechism, miscellaneous organ chorales, plain chorales and sacred songs. I'm putting together a list that fills in the blanks for a more well-order church music. Also, there is a treasure trove of OB chorale settings by other baroque composers, beginning with Sweelink, Scheidemann, Scheidt, Tunder, Buxtehude, J.M. Bach, and so many others. The Scheidemann and Buxtehude are extensive but virtually all the Tunder are lost.

Ed Myskowski wrote (January 21, 2012):
[To William L. Hoffman] The most exciting part of the project, for me, was the idea that friends and acquaintances might add new compositions to fill in some of the blanks.

Wills suggestion that there are older compositions available to fill in, as well, adds to the fabric.

Thanks to Julian for adding the chorale melodies to his already superb essays (listening guides).

BCW: Article on the Orgelbüchlein quotation

Aryeh Oron wrote (February 14, 2012):
Thomas Braatz contributed a short article in response to a question raised on the BCML.
See: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/OrgelbuchleinQuotation.pdf

Linked from: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/index.htm

Thomas Braatz wrote:
Ever since the recent query about a Bach quotation quickly identified as a couplet appearing at the end of the title/dedication page for Bach’s Orgelbüchlein, I could not help thinking that I had read this elsewhere and, sure enough, after checking a few sources I was confirmed in my initial suspicions. To be sure, the exact wording of the couplet could not be traced, but the evidence appears rather overwhelming to me, based on the proximity of the key words and concepts that I was able to document in a number of different, but rather similar instances. After confirming my suspicions which had led to Andreas Werckmeister as the possible source for Bach’s statement, I examined similar sources by Neidhardt, Niedt, and Heinichen (all works printed before 1720 or even before Bach’s Weimar period), but these did not contain any comparable statements. Personally, this discovery further cements the elusive connection between J. S. Bach and A. Werckmeister, who, as far as I have been able to ascertain, used the unique term ‘well-tempered’ in a number of different treatises spanning at least a decade or more.