Sonoma Bach
  • Bach's World
    • 2022-2023 Concerts >
      • Travels with Sebastian
      • The Old Bach Archive
      • Christmas with Bach
      • The Little Organ Book
      • Bachapella
      • Arnstadt & Mülhausen
      • Bach Through the Years
    • 2022-23 Educational Events >
      • BachTalks
      • Saturday Sings!
    • 2022-23 Virtual Offerings >
      • The Choir Loft >
        • Feb. 5 - Winter's Chill - Dianna Morgan
        • Feb. 12 - The Heirs of Bach: Charles Ives - Steve Osborn
        • March 12 - The Heirs of Bach: Hugo Distler - Steve Osborn
      • Repertoire Exploration Projects
    • Tickets
    • Donate today!
  • Who we are and What we do
    • Mission Statement
  • Our Ensembles
    • Sonoma Bach Choir
    • Circa 1600
    • Green Mountain Consort
    • Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Sponsor a Singer!
    • Escrip & Amazon Smile
  • Resources
    • Virtual Offerings - Archive >
      • The Choir Loft
      • Virtual BachTalk
      • Adventures in Sightsinging
      • Parliamo Italiano! Language Workshop
      • Madrigal Mondays
      • Chorale Wednesdays
      • Motet Fridays
      • Virtual Recording Projects
      • Virtual Concerts >
        • Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
        • Music for these Distracted Times - Barefoot All-Stars
        • Agave Baroque American Originals
        • Bach's Long Walk to Lübeck - Anne Laver, organ
    • Concert Programs
    • Scores & Parts
    • Rehearsal Recordings
  • Contact
  • Join our Mailing List!
  • Bach's World
    • 2022-2023 Concerts >
      • Travels with Sebastian
      • The Old Bach Archive
      • Christmas with Bach
      • The Little Organ Book
      • Bachapella
      • Arnstadt & Mülhausen
      • Bach Through the Years
    • 2022-23 Educational Events >
      • BachTalks
      • Saturday Sings!
    • 2022-23 Virtual Offerings >
      • The Choir Loft >
        • Feb. 5 - Winter's Chill - Dianna Morgan
        • Feb. 12 - The Heirs of Bach: Charles Ives - Steve Osborn
        • March 12 - The Heirs of Bach: Hugo Distler - Steve Osborn
      • Repertoire Exploration Projects
    • Tickets
    • Donate today!
  • Who we are and What we do
    • Mission Statement
  • Our Ensembles
    • Sonoma Bach Choir
    • Circa 1600
    • Green Mountain Consort
    • Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Sponsor a Singer!
    • Escrip & Amazon Smile
  • Resources
    • Virtual Offerings - Archive >
      • The Choir Loft
      • Virtual BachTalk
      • Adventures in Sightsinging
      • Parliamo Italiano! Language Workshop
      • Madrigal Mondays
      • Chorale Wednesdays
      • Motet Fridays
      • Virtual Recording Projects
      • Virtual Concerts >
        • Live Oak Baroque Orchestra
        • Music for these Distracted Times - Barefoot All-Stars
        • Agave Baroque American Originals
        • Bach's Long Walk to Lübeck - Anne Laver, organ
    • Concert Programs
    • Scores & Parts
    • Rehearsal Recordings
  • Contact
  • Join our Mailing List!
In dich hab' ich gehoffet, Herr
 For those who have been waiting breathlessly, breathlessly, here's this week's chorale. Our Friday Motet (and it's well worth hearing) will go out tomorrow or (more likely) Sunday. 

Just pedaling and pedaling, trying to keep up!
-----
I want to introduce you to a chorale tune which I dearly love. It's called 'In dich hab' ich gehoffet, Herr'. It appears very dramatically in Bach's 'Christmas Oratorio', just after the three kings arrive in Bethlehem. There it is set most joyfully, with a verse from an alternate text about the brilliance from the cradle driving away the darkness of the night. Here's how that looks and sounds. (The Bärenreiter score to this arrangement and the others mentioned below is attached herewith.)

There's something so open and honest about the melody, with its opening fifth and its staunch phrases, each so clear in direction and purpose. The little 4-beat phrases near the end provide a metrical contrast, and the final phrase rounds out the tune in a such a thoroughly satisfying way.

Bach must have agreed, for he used the tune many times. Here it is as it appears in the closing chorale of Cantata 52, on the first verse, with two horns crowning the texture. 

Here is its appearance in the St. Matthew Passion, on the fifth verse, just after Jesus has been brought before the high priest Kaiphas.

And perhaps most satisfying of all--certain most joyously and triumphantly!--here it is in its immortal appearance in the early Cantata 106, 'Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit', in which the choral phrases alternate with instrumental interludes until the last phrase prompts one of the coolest double-fugues in the entire repertoire, on 'Durch Jesum Christum: Amen!'

Well that oughta wake you out of any torpor which you may have been experiencing!
Click here to download learning materials
Sonoma Bach  | 911 Lakeville Street #193 |  Petaluma |  CA  |  94952 
​707-347-9491 | info@sonomabach.org

Sonoma Bach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization