Editing Chorale prelude

{{Short description|Type of musical composition}}
[[File:BWV739-autograph-manuscript.png|thumb|Autograph manuscript of the chorale prelude ''Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern'', BWV 739, 1705]]
In music, a '''chorale prelude''' or '''chorale setting''' is a short liturgical composition for [[pipe organ|organ]] using a [[chorale]] tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German [[Baroque music|Baroque]] era and reached its culmination in the works of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J.S. Bach]], who wrote 46 (with a 47th [[unfinished work|unfinished]]) examples of the form in his [[Orgelbüchlein]],<ref>Grout, Donald J. & Claude V. Palisca, ''A History of the Western Music'' 7th edition, Norton, [[London]], 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-393-97527-7}}</ref> along with multiple other works of the type in [[List of organ compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach#Chorale Preludes|other collections]].

==Function==
The precise liturgical function of a chorale [[Prelude (music)|prelude]] in the Baroque period is uncertain and is a subject of debate. One possibility is that they were used to introduce the hymn about to be sung by the congregation, usually in a [[Protestant]], and originally in a [[Lutheran]], church.  This assumption may be valid for the shorter chorale preludes (Bach's setting of 'Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, BWV 731, for example), but many chorale preludes are very long.  It could be the case that these were played during special services in churches or in cathedrals.

==Style==
Chorale preludes are typically [[polyphonic]] settings, with a chorale tune, plainly audible and often ornamented, used as cantus firmus. Accompanying motifs are usually derived from contrapuntal manipulations of the chorale melody.

Notable composers of chorale preludes during the Baroque period include [[Dieterich Buxtehude]], [[Johann Pachelbel]] and [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]. After this period, the form fell out of favour and virtually none were written by subsequent composers, such as Stamitz, J C Bach, Haydn and Mozart, until examples from the late 19th century, including works by [[Johannes Brahms]] and [[Max Reger]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Chorale prelude|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/chorale-prelude|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=9 November 2017|language=en}}</ref>

==Baroque period==
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[[File:Scheidt Tabulatura.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Title page of Scheidt's ''Tabulatura Nova'']]
{{listen|filename=O Lamm Gottes BWV1095.ogg|title=O Lamm Gottes unschuldig, BWV 1095|description=One of the [[Neumeister Chorales]] by [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], performed by Ulrich Metzner|format=[[Ogg]]}}
[[Image:Dieterich Buxtehude.jpg|right|thumb|The only known painting of Buxtehude (detail, Johannes Voorhout, 1674)]]

Among the old masters who wrote chorale preludes is [[Samuel Scheidt]].<ref name="Ritter1884">{{IMSLP|work=Zur Geschichte des Orgelspiels (Ritter, August Gottfried)|cname= August Gottfried Ritter. ''Zur Geschichte des Orgelspiels''. Leipzig: Max Hesse, 1884.}}</ref><ref>{{IMSLP|work=Choralvorspiele alter Meister (Straube, Karl)|cname=Karl Straube. ''Choralvorspiele alter Meister''. Edition Peters, 1907.}}</ref> His ''[[Tabulatura Nova]]'', containing several such works, was published in 1624.<ref name="Ritter1884" /><ref>{{IMSLP|work=Tabulatura Nova, SSWV 102-158 (Scheidt, Samuel)|cname=Samuel Scheidt. ''Tabulatura Nova''. Hamburg: Michael Hering, 1624.}}</ref> [[Sweelinck]] is also typical of the early Baroque period.

Chorale preludes also appear in the works of [[Dieterich Buxtehude]] and [[Georg Böhm]]. Over 40 chorale preludes by Buxtehude have survived to this day.<ref name="Snyder">Snyder, Kerala J. Dieterich Buxtehude: Organist in Lübeck. New York: Schirmer Books, 1987.</ref><ref>Sadie, Stanley and John Tyrell (eds.). ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,'' 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2001.</ref>{{verify source|date=November 2017|reason=which entry?}}

[[Johann Pachelbel]]'s compositions are another example of the form, with many of his chorale preludes elaborating upon Protestant chorale melodies.<ref>Melville, Ruth. ''The Chorale Preludes of Johann Pachelbel''. "Bulletin of the American Musicological Society, Nº3, pp.11–12. Apr., 1939.</ref>

The best-known composer of chorale preludes is [[Johann Sebastian Bach]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Bach - Chorales: a guide|url=http://www.classicfm.com/composers/bach/guides/chorales-guide/|website=Classic FM|access-date=2 December 2017|language=en}}</ref> His earliest extant compositions, works for organ which he possibly wrote before his fifteenth birthday, include the chorale preludes [[BWV&nbsp;700]], [[BWV 724|724]], [[Neumeister Chorales|1091, 1094, 1097, 1112, 1113 and 1119]].<ref>Works {{BDW|0820}}, {{BDW|0847}}, {{BDW|1277}}, {{BDW|1280}}, {{BDW|1283}}, {{BDW|1298}}, {{BDW|1299}} and {{BDW|1305}} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref>

In Bach's early ''[[Orgelbüchlein]]'' (1708-1717), the chorale melody is usually in the upper part and the accompanying lower parts, while being highly elaborate in their harmonic and contrapuntal detail, the beginnings and endings of phrases generally coincide with those of the chorale.  An example is "Jesu, meine Freude", where the chorale melody in the upper part is supported by a closely woven and harmonically subtle counterpoint in three parts:[[File:Jesu meine Freude from Orgelbuchlein.png|thumb|center|500px|''Jesu, meine Freude'' from the Orgelbuchlein. [[File:Jesu meine Freude from Orgelbuchlein.wav|thumb|Jesu meine Freude (BWV 610)]]]]

Peter Williams (1972, p.&nbsp;27) says of the ''[[Orgelbüchlein]]'': “Each approach to Bach’s organ chorales – their beauty, their ‘symbolism’, their mastery- is rewarding.” <ref>Williams, P. Bach Organ Music.  London, BBC.</ref>  Williams continues (1972, p29) “One of the most remarkable features of most of the settings is that the accompaniment and the motifs from which it is composed are newly invented and are not related thematically to the melody.”

By contrast, in the prelude on ''{{lang|de|[[Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme]]}}'' (BWV 645) from the set of six [[Schübler Chorales]], taken from earlier [[cantata]] movements, the accompaniment is a free-flowing obbligato which both derives from the chorale melody, yet seems to float independently over it.  "The achieving of a melody independent of the cantus firmus, though in principle it is familiar in obbligato arias, is here unusually complete."<ref>Williams, P. (1980, p.112) ''The Organ Music of J.S. Bach: Vol. II, Works based on Chorales''. Cambridge University Press.</ref> Julian Mincham (2010) sees an asymmetry here that is possibly rooted in the chorale itself “with its slightly puzzling mixture of different phrase lengths”:<ref name="Mincham">{{cite web|last=Mincham|first=Julian|date=2010|url=http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-55-bwv-140.htm|title=Chapter 55 BWV 140 Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme / Awake! The Watchman′s voice commands us|access-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>
[[File:Wachet auf chorale melody only.png|thumb|center|700px|Chorale melody (cantus firmus) of ''Wachet auf.'']]
Two melodic ideas from the chorale, labelled (a) and (b) above are embedded in the [[obbligato]] line:
[[File:Wachet auf - bars with voices only.png|thumb|center|600px|''{{lang|de|Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme}}'' (BWV 645)]]
Mincham says that while “theme and chorale are not designed to begin and end together… [they] fit together perfectly. Get to know the chorale and ritornello melodies well and the apparently effortless ways in which they inter-relate will become obvious. The important point is that they seem not to fit; but they do.”<ref name="Mincham" />

==Romantic period and twentieth century==
{{listen|filename=Brahms O Gott, du frommer Gott.ogg|title=O Gott, du frommer Gott, Op. 122 No. 7|description=Performed by Matthias Flierl|format=[[Ogg]]}}
There are several examples of 19th- and 20th-century chorale preludes, such as the [[Eleven Chorale Preludes]] by [[Johannes Brahms]], [[César Franck]], [[Max Reger]]'s and [[Samuel Barber]]'s.<ref>Barber, Samuel. ''Dei Natali'' (Chorale Preludes for Christmas), 1960.</ref> Works such as these continue to be produced nowadays such as [[Helmut Walcha]]'s four volumes<ref>[http://cat.opal-libraries.org/record=b1100821 Chorale Prelude by Helmut Walcha - recordings, Cat. Opal-Libraries.org. Frankfurt, 1980]</ref> and the seven volumes of [[Flor Peeters]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://users.telenet.be/pima/indexE.htm | title=Peeters: menu Organmusic | access-date=2009-03-05 | archive-date=2009-02-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225201505/http://users.telenet.be/pima/indexE.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Johannes Brahms===
See [[Eleven Chorale Preludes]].

===Max Reger===
Reger composed, among others, [[52 chorale preludes, Op. 67]], Chorale Preludes for Organ, [[Max Reger works#79b|Op. 79b]] (1900–04) and 30 small chorale preludes, [[Max Reger works#135a|Op. 135a]] (1914).

==See also==
*[[Chorale composition]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Romantic music}}
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[[Category:17th-century music genres]]
[[Category:18th-century music genres]]
[[Category:19th-century music genres]]
[[Category:20th-century music genres]]
[[Category:Baroque music]]
[[Category:Classical church music]]
[[Category:Romantic music]]
[[Category:Preludes (music)]]
[[Category:Classical music styles]]