Christ, der du bist der Helle Tag
It's called 'Christ, der du bist der helle Tag'. Its text is a poetic translation of a beautiful hymn for the evening service of Compline, 'Christe, qui lux es et dies'. You can view the original chant here, along with an English translation. Here's a recording of the chant, and here's a recording (with scrolling score) of William Byrd's wonderful arrangement, in which the chant (marked c.f. for cantus firmus) migrates between the voices.
The melody of our chorale--number 384 on the attached sheet from Johannes Zahn's collection--is not based upon the chant, though it may perhaps be related to an alternate early melody now lost. As you can see on the sheet, Zahn documents a number of variants of some of the phrases found in the sources; and in fact in our examples from the works of Bach, he himself uses some of these variants.
We have three arrangements of our chorale from Bach's pen. In order as they appear in the Bach Werke Verzeichnis (the index of Bach's works), they include:
BWV 273: Christ, der du bist der helle Tag: One of the so-called independent chorales, probably from a lost cantata; a score is attached hereto.
BWV 766: Partita sopra Christ, der du bist der helle Tag: An early set of variations for organ, probably composed when Bach was in his late teens or early twenties. The piece is delightful and quite imaginative in its use of the chorale melody. I especially like the way Bach picks up on the three-repeated-note riff from the chorale and extends it. Both manuscript and printed scores are attached.
BWV 1120: Christ, der du bist der helle Tag: One of the so-called 'Neumeister Chorales' from a manuscript rediscovered in the archives of Yale College in the 1980's. It contains some 31 chorales now attributed to J.S. Bach. Here's a link to a good recording of the piece.
I hope you enjoy the music! Even if you can't make the time to properly study the pieces, I invite you to at least play the tracks while you go about your day. They're sure to provide some much-needed moments of balance and perhaps even a momentary feeling that 'God's in his heaven and all's right with the world.' In these chaotic and troubling times, we can always use some R & R before we set back out upon our journeys.
It's called 'Christ, der du bist der helle Tag'. Its text is a poetic translation of a beautiful hymn for the evening service of Compline, 'Christe, qui lux es et dies'. You can view the original chant here, along with an English translation. Here's a recording of the chant, and here's a recording (with scrolling score) of William Byrd's wonderful arrangement, in which the chant (marked c.f. for cantus firmus) migrates between the voices.
The melody of our chorale--number 384 on the attached sheet from Johannes Zahn's collection--is not based upon the chant, though it may perhaps be related to an alternate early melody now lost. As you can see on the sheet, Zahn documents a number of variants of some of the phrases found in the sources; and in fact in our examples from the works of Bach, he himself uses some of these variants.
We have three arrangements of our chorale from Bach's pen. In order as they appear in the Bach Werke Verzeichnis (the index of Bach's works), they include:
BWV 273: Christ, der du bist der helle Tag: One of the so-called independent chorales, probably from a lost cantata; a score is attached hereto.
BWV 766: Partita sopra Christ, der du bist der helle Tag: An early set of variations for organ, probably composed when Bach was in his late teens or early twenties. The piece is delightful and quite imaginative in its use of the chorale melody. I especially like the way Bach picks up on the three-repeated-note riff from the chorale and extends it. Both manuscript and printed scores are attached.
BWV 1120: Christ, der du bist der helle Tag: One of the so-called 'Neumeister Chorales' from a manuscript rediscovered in the archives of Yale College in the 1980's. It contains some 31 chorales now attributed to J.S. Bach. Here's a link to a good recording of the piece.
I hope you enjoy the music! Even if you can't make the time to properly study the pieces, I invite you to at least play the tracks while you go about your day. They're sure to provide some much-needed moments of balance and perhaps even a momentary feeling that 'God's in his heaven and all's right with the world.' In these chaotic and troubling times, we can always use some R & R before we set back out upon our journeys.