371 vierstimmige Choralgesänge ... Dritte Auflage

Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel [PN 5089]. Becker, Carl Ferdinand 1804-1877 (editor). Oblong quarto. Full modern vellum. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 1f. (foreword), 1f. (index), 5-211 pp.

With printed signature of the editor, C[arl] F[erdinand] Becker (1804-1877), dated 9 December 1831 to foreword.

4-part settings for organ or other keyboard instrument without text.

Werkverzeichnis number in pencil to each chorale.

Minor internal wear. Third edition. Kenney: Riemenschneider Memorial Bach Catalogue 1439. RISM B450.

"Bach’s chorale writing is characterized by the ‘speaking’ quality of the part-writing (truncated) and the harmonies – meaning that they aim to be a direct interpretation of the text. In its pervasive counterpoint and its expressiveness, Bach’s harmonic style stands out from that of his contemporaries, who preferred plain homophonic textures in their chorales. This simpler approach, found in the chorales of such as Graupner or Telemann, with movement mostly in minims, was well suited to congregational singing, but Bach took no account of that in his chorales, which are deliberately more artistic, rhythmically often more lively (written in crotchets), and frequently bolder in their harmonies." Christoph Wolff, and Walter Emery in Grove Music Online

"Becker was a German organist, musicologist, music collector and bibliographer. He was educated at the Thomasschule under Johann Gottfried Schicht, and also studied with the organists Friedrich Schneider and Johann Andreas Dröbs. He played the violin in the Gewandhaus Orchestra (1820–33) and in the theatre orchestra (1821–4). He was organist at the Peterskirche (1825–37) and later at the Nikolaikirche (1837–54). When the Leipzig Conservatory was founded in 1843, Mendelssohn invited Becker to become its first organ professor. ... One of his special interests was J.S. Bach; he was a founder-member of the Bach-Gesellschaft." Alec Hyatt King, revised by Peter Krause in Grove Music Online. (Inventory #: 40251)