Four-part theology
In his new edition of Bach's chorale movements, Thomas Daniel makes a clear distinction for the first time between confirmed and dubious authorship.
Johann Sebastian Bach's chorales are not just objects of study or teaching pieces, but represent the unique combination of theology and music. Their function is prayer, reflection, commentary or confession. Even during Bach's lifetime, his chorales began to take on a life of their own and were collected. And when his music fell silent after his death, they preserved his memory for posterity.
The musicologist Thomas Daniel, a well-known Bach specialist, has published a new edition with Breitkopf & Härtel All chorale movements as an Urtext edition of all four-part chorales by Johann Sebastian Bach. For this purpose, the chorales were divided into two parts of roughly equal size: The chorales from the cantatas, motets and passions, which are certain to be by Bach, are found in the first part, while the second part contains chorales from later sources and prints. By drawing on new sources, the authentic chorales are for the first time clearly separated from the chorales with partly dubious authorship. In addition to an informative preface and a separate introduction to the edition for both parts, the edition also contains for the first time individual notes on each chorale, which are printed directly in the music section. In addition, there are helpful indexes with which the movements can be searched by text beginning, BWV number, melody composer and librettist.
A highly recommended new edition that no music cabinet should be without.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sämtliche Choralsätze for four-part mixed choir, edited by Thomas Daniel, choral score, ChB 5377, € 24.90, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden
