Choralvorspiele zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch.

Choralvorspiele zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch. Hrsg. von Juergen Bonn. Kassel: Barenreiter, c1995-97. [Vol. 1 (1995): EG 1-72. Vorwort, p. ii; tables of contents and index of composers, p. iii-vi; score p. 7-127. ISMN M-006-48947-3; BA 8224. DM 48. Vol. 2 (1996): EG 75-134. Vorwort, 1 p.; tables of contents, p. ii-v; score p. 6-132; index of composers, 133-34. ISMN M-006-49850-5; BA 8225. DM 48. Vol. 3 (1996): EG 138-202. Vorwort, p. ii; tables of contents and index of composers, p. iii-vi; score p. 7-111. ISMN M-006-49894-9; BA 8228. DM 48. Vol. 4 (1996): EG 214-308. Vorwort, 1 p.; tables of contents and index of composers, p. ii-vi; score p. 7-144. ISMN M-006-49928-1; BA 8229, DM 48. Vol. 5 (1997): EG 316/317-406. Vorwort, 1 p.; tables of contents and index of composers, ii-vi; score p. 7-165. ISMN M-006-50091-8; BA 8230. DM 48. Vol. 6 (1997): EG 421-535. Vorwort, p. ii; tables of contents and index of composers, p. iii-iv, 1-7; score p. 8-163. ISMN M-006-50072-7; BA 8238. DM 48.]

Orgelbuch zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch. Im Auftrag der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland hrsg. von Manfred Heinig, Hermann Rau und Dietrich Schuberth. Kassel: Barenreiter, c1993. [Vol. 1: Nr. 1 bis 269. Geleitwort, Vorwort, Hinweise zum Gebrauch, p. iv-vii; score, 362 p.; Verzeichnis der Lieder und Gesange, 5 p. Vol. 2: Nr. 270 bis 535. Score, p. 363-694; Verzeichnis der Komponisten und ihrer Satze, p. 699-701; Verzeichnis der urheberrechtlich geschutzten Saitze und ihrer Rechteinhaber, p. 702; Verzeichnis der Lieder und Gesange, p. 703-7. Cloth. BA 8188. DM 198 (set).]

Orgelbuch zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch: Ausgabe RheinlandWestfalen-Lippe-Evangelisch reformierte Kirche. Stammteil im Auftrag der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland hrsg. von Manfred Heinig, Hermann Rau und Dietrich Schuberth; Landeskirchlicher Liederteil hrsg. von der Evangelischen Kirche im Rheinland, der Evangelischen Kirche von Westfalen, der Lippischen Landeskirche und der Evangelisch reformierten Kirche. Kassel: Barenreiter, c1996. [Vol. 1: Nr. 1 bis 315. Vorwort, p. iii; score, 431 p.; Verzeichnis der Lieder und Gesange, 7 p. Vol. 2: Nr. 316 bis 695. Score, p. 432-893; Verzeichnis der Komponisten und ihrer Satze, p. 896-99; Verzeichnis der urheberrechtlich geschutzten Satze und ihrer Rechteinhaber, p. 900-901; Verzeichnis der Lieder und Gesange, p. 902-8. Cloth. ISMN M-006-49964-9; BA 8243. DM 248 (set).]

One of the principal genres of sacred music in Protestant Germany during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the cantata, is heard today more in concert halls than in churches. Once a functional part of the liturgy, closely related to the biblical readings appointed for each Sunday and feast day, the cantata has migrated from its functional, liturgical role to become a musical object. The situation is fortunately not the same for the organ chorale prelude, another genre that found its origin in Protestant Germany. While some chorale preludes, notably those of Johann Sebastian Bach, are heard as musical objects in recital, the chorale prelude also continues to function within Christian worship in its intended relationship to congregational chorales or hymns. The organ chorale prelude, or Choralvorspiel, may introduce the singing of a hymn (a very brief introduction, of only a few measures, is called an intonation or Choraleinleitung). The chorale prelude may also substitute for one stanza of a congregat ional hymn, the prelude sounding the chorale melody in place of the singing congregation. Such Alternatimspraxis was characteristic of music in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century German churches and is still employed today, primarily in Lutheran contexts. Finally, the chorale prelude may provide a time for directed reflection within the divine service or Gottesdienst, the clear perception of the chorale cantus firmus calling to mind both the text of the chorale and its associated theological implications, In all of these ways the chorale prelude continues to fulfill its intended functions.

Single and multivolume anthologies of chorale preludes have long been staples of the organist's library; typical examples include Achtzig Choralvorspiele deutscher Meister des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, edited by Hermann Keller (Frankfurt; New York: C. F. Peters, 1937, 1951), and The Church Organist's Golden Treasury: An Anthology of Choral [sic] Preludes, edited in three volumes by Carl F. Pfatteicher and Archibald T. Davison (Bryn Mawr, Pa.: Oliver Ditson, 1949-51). Both of these anthologies focus exclusively on the chorale preludes of German baroque composers. The more recent Concordia Hymn Prelude Series, edited by Herbert Gotsch in forty-two volumes (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1982-86), combines chorale preludes from the German baroque with twentieth-century settings by German, English, and American composers. The goal of this series is to provide at least one prelude for every hymn in the North American Lutheran hymnals Lutheran Book of Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1978) and Lutheran Worship (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1982). Similarly, Barenreiter's six-volume Choralvorspiele zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch intends to provide one or more chorale preludes (from seventeenth- through twentieth-century repertories) on many (but not all) of the hymns in the 1993 Evangelisches Gesangbuch (Berlin: Evangelische HauptBibelgesellschaft), the German Protestant hymnal that is the successor to the Evangelisches Kirchengsangbuch of 1950.

The six volumes are arranged according to the hymn numbering system in the Evangelisches Gesangbuch. Thus, volume 1 contains preludes on hymns 1-72 for the first part of the church year (Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany), and volume 2, corresponding to hymns 75-134, contains preludes for Lent (Passion), Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. Subsequent volumes contain chorale preludes on hymns that relate not to the cycle of the church year but to various broader topics within Christian hymnody, such as baptism or the Eucharist. In all, these six volumes provide preludes for over five hundred hymns.

The settings tend to be short, usually one or two pages, and are of easy to medium technical difficulty. Most chorale melodies receive more than one setting, and such groups of settings on a single tune usually display some chronological and stylistic variety. The great Advent chorale "Nun komm der Heiden Heiland," for example, is provided with a one-page setting by Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau (1663-1712), a two-page setting by J. S. Bach's cousin Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748), a one-page setting from Harmonische Seelenlust (1733) by Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1679-1735), and a one-page setting by Hans Klotz (1900-1987). The four settings use the chorale tune in richly varied ways. Kauffmann states the cantus firmus clearly in its entirety. Walther uses a combination of ornamented and straightforward statements of phrases from the chorale tune in his contrapuntal texture. Zachau employs only the first melodic phrase of the chorale as the subject for a chorale fughetta. In a three-part texture, Klotz states the cantus firmus in the tenor in longer notes over a pedal ostinato, with an obbligato upper part incorporating mildly dissonant chromatic inflections. The Zachau and Kauffmann settings are for manuals only, Walther and Klotz for manuals and pedal. A note at the foot of page 17, the last of the settings of "Nun komm der Heiden Heiland," refers the organist to "weitere Literatur," in this case a Barenreiter anthology of chorale preludes by J. S. Bach and the anthology Weihnachtliche romantische Orgelmusik (ed. Rudolf Walter [Heidelberg: Suddeutscher Musikverlag, 1990]). Such suggestions for further settings are common throughout these six volumes, particularly for the better known chorales. Unlike the group of settings provided for "Nun komm der Heiden Heiland," other chorales may be provided with one or more brief intonations as well as a chorale prelude, as, for example, the five-measure intonation by johannes Proger (b. 1917) on the Advent chorale "Trostet, trostet, spricht der Herr," followed by a brief prelude by the composer of this chorale tune, Hans Friedrich Micheelsen (1902-1973), a setting that would work particularly well in alternatim with the congregational singing of this hymn.

Virtually none of the compositions in these six volumes is newly published. Indeed, many were available in earlier collections issued by Barenreiter or by the Suddeutscher Musikverlag. In a very real sense, then, Barenreiter has extracted chorale preludes from its own earlier publications and rearranged them to reflect the ordering of the Evangelisches Gesangbuch. The only compositions newly published here are three short settings by Hugo Distler (1908-1942), previously available only in manuscript at the Stadtbibliothek der Hansestadt, Lubeck: a harmonization of Philipp Nicolai's great chorale melody "Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern" and two intonations on Martin Luther's "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort." But if the repertory in these volumes will not be startlingly new for most organists, it is convenient nonetheless to have so many compositionally well crafted, brief chorale preludes brought together in one place and ordered logically according to the liturgical year and the topical order of the Evangelisches Gesangbuch.

Because the chorale preludes are transposed to the keys used in the Evangelisches Gesangbuch, organists will find some familiar compositions now available in keys increasingly common (usually a whole step lower) for certain hymns. Volume 5, for example, has Walther's and Micheelsen's settings of "Lobe den Herren, den machtigen Konig der Ehren," both previously available consistently in G major, here in F major, which has more recently been the preferred hymnal key for this well-known chorale. Similarly, volume 2 provides one of Dietrich Buxtehude's settings of "Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist" in F major rather than G major. Organists will particularly welcome such transposed versions when the prelude functions as the introduction to the singing of the hymn or in alternatim.

Basic registrational suggestions are indicated by the editor for some of the chorale preludes. Each volume contains three indexes: an alphabetical index by chorale title, a numerical list of contents by hymn number in the Evangelisches Gesangbuch, and an index by composer. Additionally, volume 6 has a cumulative alphabetical index by chorale title for all six volumes. These intonations and preludes provide the organist with a functional repertory for each Sunday and feast day in the Christian church calendar. For students they offer worthy initial models for improvising one's own hymn introductions or more extended preludes. Finally, they provide a fascinating look at a variety of compositional treatments for a given chorale melody.

Characteristic of the Evangelisches Gesangbuch (as well as its 1950 predecessor) is the simultaneous publication of various German regional editions of the hymnal. Given a basic hymnic repertory in this book, regional churches may each produce individual editions with their own added corpus of supplementary hymns. The Orgelbuch zurm Evangelischen Gesangbuch, essentially the accompaniment edition of this hymnal, contains intonations and harmonizations for the same repertory of 535 hymns treated by the Choralvorspiele zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch. By contrast, the Orgelbuch zum Evangelischen Gesanbuch: Ausgabe Rheinland-Westfalen-Lippe-Evangelisch reformierte Kirche contains harmonizations for 695 hymns--the basic 535 hymns of the Evangelisches Gesangbuch plus an additional corpus of 160 hymns for this regional church. The content of these two accompaniment editions is identical for hymns 1-535. The Rheinland-Westfalen-Lippe supplement tends to draw its supplemental hymns primarily from twentieth-century Germa n sources, with a few additions from outside of Germany, such as a translation of Charles Wesley's popular Easter hymn "Jesus Christ Is Ris'n Today" and a selection of Jacques Berthier's (1923-94) settings for the Taize community in eastern France.

Common to both of these two-volume accompaniment editions is the presence for most hymns of a brief intonation and four-and three-part harmonizations. For a few hymns this cluster of settings is presented in two different keys. In a brief acknowledgment line at the end of each group of settings, the editors list poet and year of text; composer and year of tune (or, when the composer is unknown, some geographical and/or chronological information on the origin of the tune); composer and year of intonation; and arranger and year for both the four-part and three-part harmonizations, or the source for the harmonization, such as the Wurttembergisches Choralbuch (Choralbuch zum evangelisehen Kirchengesangbuch: Ausgabe fur die Evang. Landeshirche in Wurtemberg, 3d ed. [Stuttgart: Verlags kontor des Evangeliachen Gesangbuchs, 1953]). The obvious advantage for the organist outside of Germany is that these volumes provide a repository of intonations and alternate harmonizations for chorales included in a wide variety o f hymnals. As was the case with the six-volume Choralvorspiele zum Evangelisches Gesangbuch, the intonations and harmonizations in the volumes of the Orgelbuch also provide excellent models for those who wish to begin work in hymn-based improvisation.

Much of the Latin and German sacred music of the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries no longer functions in a liturgical context. At best, these works are heard and studied as musical objects. The volumes represented here demonstrate that even in an age when some within the church are quite ready to abandon its heritage of liturgy and music, the chorale prelude may yet play a functional role within the Christian liturgy. Indeed, such anthologies of well-crafted yet technically accessible music will assist in preserving the chorale prelude in its intended liturgical function.