Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2024
Postlude: Chorale Prelude, “Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist” (“Come, Creator God, Holy Spirit”)…..J.S. Bach
This work is from Bach’s Eighteen Leipzig Chorales, a group of organ chorale settings which date from earlier periods in Bach’s life and which he compiled as a group during his years in Leipzig (1723-1750). It is based on a Lutheran chorale which itself is a re-working of an ancient plainchant, Veni Creator Spiritus (Come, Creator Spirit), and is in two parts. The first, lively and dance-like, is actually a previously-composed organ chorale which Bach included in an earlier collection, the Orgelbüchlein (“Little Organ Book”); in this first section, the chorale melody is in the topmost voice, or soprano. In the contrasting second section, the chorale melody is transferred into the pedals, where it is heard in longer note values against joyous, flowing counterpoint in the hands.
– Charles Tompkins