Johann Sebastian Bach'schorale harmonisations, alternatively named four-part chorales, areLutheran hymn settings that characteristically conform to the following:

• four-part harmony
• SATB vocal forces
• pre-existinghymn tune allotted to thesoprano part
• text treatment:
  • homophonic
  • no repetitions (i.e., each syllable of the hymn text is sung one time)

Around 400 of such chorale settings by Bach, mostly composed in the first four decades of the 18th century, are extant:

• Around half of that number are chorales which were transmitted in the context of larger vocal works such as cantatas, motets, Passions and oratorios. A large part of these chorales are extant as autographs by the composer, and for nearly all of them acolla parte instrumental and/orcontinuo accompaniment are known.
• All other four-part chorales exclusively survived in collections of short works, which include manuscripts and18th-century prints. Apart from theThree Wedding Chorales collection (BWV 250–252), these are copies by other scribes and prints only published after the composer's death, lacking context information, such as instrumental accompaniment, for the individual harmonisations.

Apart from homophonic choral settings, Bach's Lutheran hymn harmonisations also appear as:

• sungchorale fantasias in some of Bach's larger vocal works
• hymn melodies for which Bach composed or improved athorough bass accompaniment, for instance as included inGeorg Christian Schemelli'sMusicalisches Gesang-Buch
• harmonisations included in purely instrumental compositions, most typically organ compositions such aschorale preludes orchorale partitas.

The compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach that had beenprinted during his lifetime were nearly exclusively instrumental works. Moreover, by the time Bach died in 1750 it was forgotten that a few of his vocal works (BWV 71,BWV 439–507,...) had indeed been printed in the first half of the 18th century.^[1] In the period between the publication ofThe Art of Fugue in the early 1750s, and the publication of further works from 1800, only one group of Bach's works was published: his four-part chorales.

The most complete 18th century publication of chorales by J. S. Bach isCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach's edition in four volumes, published byBreitkopf from 1784 to 1787. About half of the chorale harmonisations in this collection have their origin in other extant works by Bach. This collection went through four more editions and countless reprintings until 1897. Several other collections of chorales by J. S. Bach were published, some of these using the originalC-clefs or different texts.

The loss of musical material from Bach's death to the first printings of chorale collections may have been substantial. Not only are many works the chorales were extracted from no longer extant but there is no way of knowing how much of all the harmonisations that were once compiled the current collections include. For example, there is no way of knowing how many of the 150 harmonisations first proposed for sale in 1764 also appear in Princess Anna Amalia's manuscript which ultimately forms the basis of the Breitkopf edition. As to the chorale melodies with figured bass, current collections include less than one hundred of them whereas those proposed for sale in 1764 numbered 240.

The chorale harmonisations BWV 250–438 were probably all extracted from lost larger vocal works. For six of them the work they have been derived from has been identified. Bach's chorale harmonisations are all for a four-part choir (SATB), butRiemenschneider's andTerry's collections contain one 5-part SSATB choral harmonisation (Welt, ade! ich bin dein müde, Riemenscheider No. 150, Terry No. 365), not actually by Bach, but used by Bach as the concluding chorale to cantataWer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende, BWV 27.

Some harmonisations exist in differentkeys, i.e.pitches, in 18th-century sources: for instance aBach cantata autograph gives the four-part chorale in one key, and the same harmonisation is found in one or more of the early chorale compilations in a different key.

The first record of the existence and sale of groups of collected chorale harmonisations and chorale melodies with figured bass extracted from larger works by J.S. Bach is from 1764, fourteen years after Bach's death. In that year the firm Breitkopf und Sohn announced for sale manuscript copies of 150 chorale harmonisations and 240 chorale melodies with figured bass by J.S. Bach.

In 1777Johann Kirnberger started an active letter campaign to induce Breitkopf to publish a complete set of chorale harmonisations. Kirnberger's letters emphasize his motivation to have the chorales printed in order to preserve them for the benefit of future generations. The manuscript to be used once belonged to C. P. E. Bach, who sold it through Kirnberger toPrincess Anna Amalia of Prussia (for twelvelouis d'or). It is presumed that this manuscript contained neither the text of the chorales nor any reference to the larger works from which the harmonisations had been taken. The manuscript's harmonisations extracted only the vocal parts and ignored the instrumental parts and the continuo, even though all of Bach's chorale settings included both instrumental parts and continuo. The instrumental parts were either independent, so called obbligato instrumental parts, or mostly doubled the vocal parts sometimes separating from it for a very few beats, and the continuo had its bass mostly double the vocal bass at the lower octave, but could also separate from it for a very few beats. Finally in some cases, for reasons unknown, whoever extracted the chorale from the larger work, changed the key of the setting.

"Y" manuscript hypothesis

Hypothetical early autograph collection of chorale harmonisations from which Bach would have selected settings he later integrated into his larger vocal works.

Larger vocal works manuscripts

Mostly extant as autograph score and/or as parts written out under Bach's supervision: many of these works, such as cantatas and Passions, include four-part chorales

Three Wedding Chorales autograph

Bach's autograph of the wedding chorales BWV 250–252, written between 1734 and 1738.^[2]

Dietel manuscript, a.k.a. Dietel Collection and, in German, Choralsammlung Dietel

Main article:Dietel manuscript

Earliest of the extant larger collection of chorale harmonisations manuscripts. It contains 149 chorale harmonisations (not 150 as is written on its title page) and originated around 1735. The music in the manuscript was copied by Johann Ludwig Dietel, one of Bach's pupils from theThomasschule.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

A few chorale harmonisations had been published before Bach adopted them into his larger vocal works, and are therefore listed as spurious in thethird annex of the BWV catalogue:^[10][11]

• "Welt, ade! ich bin dein müde", BWV Anh. 170 [scores], also known as closing movement of cantataBWV 27: five-part harmonisation published, for instance, inVopelius' 1682Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch, p. 947.^[12]
• CantataBWV 43, movement 11: harmonisation byChristoph Peter [de] published in 1652, later adopted in Vopelius'Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch:"Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist", p. 70.^[13]
• CantataBWV 8, movement 6 (BWV 8/6):Daniel Vetter's four-part setting of "Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben", published in 1713.^[14][15]

Several more harmonisations stay close to the version published by Vopelius: for example "Christus, der ist mein Leben", BWV 281, is a variant of the harmonisation found in theNeu Leipziger Gesangbuch, with added embellishments and the harmonic structure altered for one of the tune's four phrases.^[16]

Printed collections of Bach's harmonisations usually provide an alphabetical collation of the chorales, that is, ranged alphabetically by textincipit of the hymn. Some editions contain an alphabetical index at the end of the compilation, for instance at the end of the final volume of C. P. E. Bach's 18th-century collection. Other editions, such as the Breitkopf compilations of 1892 and 1899, present the chorales themselves in alphabetical order. However, not all of these alphabetical collations result in analogous chorale sequences. Some major differences in this respect result from chorales that are known by different names: in that case it depends on the editor which name is used for the collation. For example, the melody of "Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost" also being known as "Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält" it is an editor's discretion whether BWV 256 is found early on^[17] or near the end^[18] of an alphabetically sorted collection.

Some of Bach's voice and thoroughbass settings published inGeorg Christian Schemelli's 1736Musicalisches Gesang-Buch are better known in their four-part realisation included in the chorale harmonisation collections.

Chorales published by Birnstiel (200)

In 1765F. W. Birnstiel published 100 chorales in Berlin. The edition had been initiated byF. W. Marpurg and completed, edited and supplemented with a preface and a list of errata by C. P. E. Bach. A second volume of 100 was issued by the same publisher in 1769, edited byJ. F. Agricola. C. P. E. Bach criticised this publication as being full of mistakes in an article which was published in Hamburg in theStaats- und Gelehrte Zeitung des Hamburgischen unpartheyeschen Correspondenten on 30 May 1769, in which he also claimed that some of the chorale harmonisations included in the volume had not been composed by his father.

C. P. E. Bach's edition for Breitkopf (371)

After Kirnberger died in 1783, C. P. E. Bach became Breitkopf's editor for the chorales, which he then published in four parts:

• Vol. I (1784): Nos. 1–96
• Vol. II (1785): Nos. 97–194
• Vol. III (1786): Nos. 195–283
• Vol. IV (1787): Nos. 283–370

Since the number 283 was used twice (last number of Vol. III and first number of Vol. IV), the collection actually contained 371 items. The collection also contained several doubles (e.g. No. 156 is identical to No. 307): it totalled 348 independent harmonisations.^[19]

C. P. E. Bach's selection of 371 chorale harmonisations was republished a few times in the 19th century, for instance byCarl Ferdinand Becker in 1832 (third edition),^[20] and byAlfred Dörffel in 1870.

Bach Gesellschaft (larger vocal works + 3 + 185)

TheBach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe (BGA,Bach Gesellschaft edition) kept the chorale settings that were part of a larger vocal work (cantata, motet, Passion or oratorio) together with these larger vocal works and added theThree Wedding Chorales to its 13th volume containing wedding cantatas. The remaining separate four-part chorales, purged from doubles, were ordered alphabetically and numbered from 1 to 185 in the 39th volume which was published in 1892.^[17]

Richter's edition for Breitkopf (389)

In the late 19th century Bernhard Friedrich Richter collected all straightforward chorale harmonisations that had appeared in the BGA edition —including as well the separate ones as those from larger vocal works—, added a "Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir" harmonisation from a variant version ofCantata 130, and numbered all of these chorales in alphabetical order. The set contained a few doubtful and spurious settings (e.g. fromTelemann cantatas which at the time were still attributed to Bach), but four-part settings which were part of a more complex texture (e.g. the fifth movement ofCantata 22 where the vocal homophony is supplemented by instrumental figuration) were not always included by Richter. The set was published by Breitkopf asJoh. Seb. Bach: 389 Choral-Gesänge für gemischten Chor in 1899.^[18]

TheBach-Werke-Verzeichnis, published in 1950, did not assign a separate BWV number to harmonisations contained in extant larger vocal works such as cantatas and Passions. TheThree Wedding Chorales were assigned the numbers 250 to 252, and the 185 (+1: seebelow) four-part chorales contained in Vol. 39 of the BGA edition were given, in the same order, the numbers 253 to 438.^[21]

Terry (405)

Published in 1929, Charles Sanford Terry'sJ. S. Bach's Four-Part Chorales contains 405 chorale harmonisations and 95 melodies with figured bass. The collection was reprinted 1964, with a foreword by Walter Emery.^[22]

Riemenschneider (371)

Albert Riemenschneider's collection of 371 chorales was published in 1941. It contained the same 371 settings as the C. P. E. Bach edition for Breitkopf, but with a few differences in the collation. In some cases Riemenschneider restored some information about obbligato instrumental parts based on extant larger works, e.g. his No. 270 from cantataBWV 161, or about the continuo bass line if this does not exactly coincide with the vocal bass, e.g. his No. 29 from cantataBWV 32 and his No. 35 from theChristmas Oratorio. Riemenschneider did however not restore original keys to the extant larger works, but instead kept the chorales in the keys as they had been published in the Breitkopf collection, e.g. his No. 22, in E-flat major, comes from cantataBWV 180 where it is in F major. At times the key signature in Riemenschneider's edition does not correspond to the key,^{[clarification needed]} for instance No. 19, in G minor but written with a "Dorian" G key signature. This too is presumably^{[speculation?]} reproduced from the Breitkopf edition, which would have followed a common 17th- and 18th-century practice.^[23]

Editio Musica Budapest (388)

Editio Musica Budapest (EMB) published Imre Sulyok's edition of 388 chorale harmonisations in 1982. With a few differences (e.g. a de-doubling of the near-identical BWV 253 and 414, and some differences in the collation) the collection is largely comparable to the Richter edition.^[24]

Kalmus (389)

Kalmus republished the 389 chorales of Richter's collection.^[25]

NBA

TheNew Bach Edition published theThree Wedding Chorales and the four-part chorales contained in the Dietel collection in 1991 (Series III, Vol. 2/1). The chorales from C. P. E. Bach's collection were published in 1996 (Series III, Vol. 2/2). Vol. 3 of the same series, published in 2002, contains a few chorales of doubtful authenticity found in other manuscripts and early editions. Vol. 9 of the second series, published in 2000, contains a few doubtful chorales found in various Passions. Better known chorale harmonisations are also contained in other volumes of series I (cantatas), II (Passions and oratorios) and V (e.g. BWV 299 as contained in theNotebook for Anna Magdalena Bach).

Czarnecki (413)

Christopher Czarnecki (editor).J.S. Bach 413 Chorales. SeeZar Publications, 2014.ISBN 0989087913

Dahn (420)

Luke Dahn (editor).J.S. Bach Chorales: a new critical and complete edition arranged by BWV catalogue number with text and historical contextual information included for each chorale with numerous indices included in the appendix. LuxSitPress, 2017.

Most of Bach's known chorale harmonisations are movements in his extant cantatas, motets, Passions and oratorios. These are compositions which have a BWV number ranging from 1 to 249. BWV 250 to 438 is the range of the separate four-part chorales. Chorale harmonisations with a number above 438 are mostly later additions to the BWV catalogue. The 5th chapter of the1998 edition of theBach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV^2a) contains the chorales BWV 250–438, and some later additions (BWV 500a, 1084, 1089 and 1122–1126).^[26]

All BWV numbers used in the listings below are according to the latest version of theBach-Werke-Verzeichnis and further updates of these numbers found at theBach Digital website. When a BWV number is followed by a slash ("/"), the number or letter after that slash indicates the movement in the composition.

Settings fromSchemellis Gesangbuch are indicated by their BWV number (BWV 439–507), by the number of the hymn in the original publication (Nos. 1–954),^[27] and, between brackets, the number of the setting in Vol. 39 of the BGA edition (1–69).^[28]

A cross-reference between Lutheran hymns, theirZahn number,^[29] and their appearance in compositions by Bach (including, but not limited to, the chorale harmonisations) can be found pp. 471–481 of BWV^2a.^[30]

More than 200 of Bach's over 400 homophonic chorale harmonisations survived in his larger vocal works.

Four-part chorales also appearing as cantata movements composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (verse incipits, and their translations byPamela Dellal, from the Emmanuel Music website unless otherwise indicated):^[35] BWV 1/6: "Wie bin ich doch so herzlich froh" ("How happy I am", v. 7 of "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern")•2/6: "Das wollst du, Gott, bewahren rein" ("This, God, you would keep pure", v. 6 ofAch Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein")•3/6: "Erhalt mein Herz im Glauben rein" ("If my heart remains pure in faith", v. 18 of "Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid")•4/8•5/7•6/6•7/7•9/7•10/7•12/7•13/6•14/5•16/6•17/7•18/5•19/7•20/7=/11•22/5•24/6•25/6•26/6•28/6•29/8•30/6•31/9•32/6•33/6•36/4 and /8•37/6•38/6•39/7•40/3, /6 and /8•41/6•42/7•44/7•45/7•46/6•47/5•48/3 and /7•52/6•55/5•56/5•57/8•59/3•60/5•62/6 64.•64/2, /4 and /8•65/2 and /7•66/6•67/4 and /7•69/6•69a/6•70/7 and /11•72/6•73/5•74/8•75/7=/14•76/7=/14•77/6•78/7 79.•79/3 and /6•80/8•81/7•83/5•84/5•85/6•86/6•87/7•88/7•89/6•90/5•91/6•92/9•93/7•94/8•95/1 (extract:282) and /7•96/6•97/9•99/6•100/6•101/7•102/7•103/6•104/6•105/6•107/7•108/6•110/7•111/6•112/5•113/1 and /8•114/7•115/6•116/6•117/4=/9•119/9•120/6•120a/8•121/6•122/6•123/6•124/6•125/6•126/6•127/5•128/5•129/5•130/6•133/6•135/6•136/6•137/5•139/6•140/7•144/3 and /6•145/a and /5•146/8•147/6=/10•148/6•149/7•151/5 153.•153/1, /5 and /9•154/3 and /8•155/5•156/6•157/5•158/4•159/5•161/6•162/6•164/6•165/6•166/6•167/5•168/6•169/7•171/6•172/6•174/5•175/7•176/6•177/5•178/7•179/6•180/7•183/5•184/5•185/6•187/7•188/6•190/7•194/6 and /12•195/6•197/5 and /10•197a/7 (≈398)