Chorale Preludes on Ach Gott und Herr Johann Gottfried Walther (1661-1733).
These preludes are on a chorale by Martin Rutilius (1551-1586). A translation of selected verses gives a flavour of the original. "Oh God and Lord, how monstrous and heavy are the sins which I have committed. Nobody can be found on the earth to help me. To You I cry; do not push me away, even though I deserve it. Oh God, do not be angry, do not judge me, Your son has taken away my sin. Lord, give me patience, forget my blame, create in me an obedient heart, so that I do not mock my salvation. Do with me as You will, I will suffer my fate through Your grace, if You will not O my God, distance Yourself from me for ever." The melody is in Christoph Peter's hymn book of 1655, and we hear it Bach's four part harmonization (BWV 48/3), taken from the canata Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen.
Hymn No.193 Saviour, who exalted high Richard Mant (1776-1848); Tune: Aberystwyth, Jospeh Parry (1841-1903).
This is a selection from a long hymn in ten verses, which appeared in Mant's Holydays of the Church (1828). Born in Southampton, Mant was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Oxford. After various appointments in England, he was consecrated Bishop of Killaloe in 1820, and was translated to the See of Down and Connor in 1823. He was a prolific hymn writer, but is probably best remembered for this hymn. He died in Ballymoney. Joseph Parry came from a working class background. He was a child labourer in Merthyr before he was ten years old, but the family moved to Pennsylvania in 1854 and he was able to study music. The Welsh colony there sent him on a scholarship to New York. In 1873, he became Professor of Music at University College, Aberystwyth, which had then recently been founded by public subsription, and then at University College, Cardiff. Most Welsh hymn tunes are in four parts like this one: a theme repeated, then modulating to the minor before returning to the theme again.
Hymn No. 657 Praise to the Lord Joachim Neander (1650-80); Tune: Lobe den Herrn, from Stralsund Gesangbuch (1665).
This hymn is based on Psalm 103, verses 1-6 and on Psalm 150. It was translated by Catherine Winkworth, whom we have to thank for a great many translations of German chorales. The original was published in 1680 with this tune. Neander's brief life began in Bremen. In 1674, he became head master of the grammar school in Düsseldorf, but had fallen under the influence of the Pietists and was a close friend of their leader, Spener. This was not an age or a place of religious toleration, and his activities in organizing unofficial religious gatherings for preaching and instruction soon aroused hostility, and he was dismissed from his post. After living for some months in a cave - he was on the run - he returned to Bremen but died from consumption the following year.
Prelude in G minor (BWV558) by Johann Sebastian Bach (1675-1750).
The eight Short Preludes and Fugues (BWV553-560) may not be by Bach, as they exist only in later copies and contain stylistic infelicities, such as parallel octaves. Some think they may be by one of Bach's pupils, either Johann Tobias Krebs (1690-1762), who was Bach's pupil from 1710-1716, or his son Johann Ludwig (1713-1780), who was a pupil at St. Thomas's from 1726 and is known to have copied a good many pieces by his teacher. We shall never know for certain.