Musical contribution - February 2016

Vater unser im Himmelreich - Joh. Seb. Bach (1685-1750)

In 1881, a German organist had a bundle published in Norway of - as the foreword informs us - unpublished works by J.S. Bach. This bundle includes 11 free works and 18 Choralvorspiele. Over the years, some have doubted whether the great master was truly the composer of these works, and several of the pieces have been proven to be from another hand.

The music we are offered this week is also not one of his - at least, that’s what the experts think. To be honest, and without having conducted a thorough study, I believe that they’re right.

But as long as we don’t know who really wrote these works, we’ll continue to print ‘J.S. Bach’ above the piece, because it’s definitely worth playing.

For a Choralvorspiel with a colourful melody, I always choose a leading stop with an 8’,4’,3’ flute. As accompaniment, use 8’, 4’ and 16’ and 8’ in the pedal.

And whether this was written by Bach himself, his father, one of his sons or his apprentices... it’s just a beautiful piece to play.

Musical regards,

André van Vliet