Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland

BWV 659 performed by Leo van Doeselaar
Walloon Church, Amsterdam

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In quiet expectation

The first of three Advent gems is thought-provoking

The Leipziger Choräle include two ‘trilogies’: one based on Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr (BWV 662-664), and one on the Advent hymn Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, of which BWV 659 forms the first section. (The individual works are most likely older, were not written together and are not the only ones to this melody, but the compilation Bach made in his later years is significant). Whereas Allein Gott concerns the Trinity, here it is all about Jesus, who has three roles in the catechism: sanctifier, redeemer and protector. Maybe Bach meant the first role here. Or maybe he was thinking mainly of the first verse of the hymn: ‘Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland / der Jungfrauen Kind erkannt / des sich wundert alle Welt / Gott solch Geburt ihm bestellt’.

Whatever the case, this chorale arrangement is full of mystical expectation, which is underlined by the ‘quiet’ recording of this performance. Although Bach borrowed the form from Buxtehude, in style BWV 659 would not be amiss as the middle movement of a concerto in Italian style. All the elements are present: a walking bass, a duet of middle voices (sometimes in canon and sometimes referring to the chorale melody) and a leading upper voice. In the arrangement of the melody in the upper voice, Bach goes much further than his predecessors. Each phrase grows out of the chorale into the most wonderful, spun-out coloratura. At the end of the third line of the verse, the world’s amazement is reinforced by a harmonic pause and an abrupt deceleration of the bass – everyone holding their breath – a trick often used by Bach when writing about the birth of Jesus.

18 Choräle/Leipziger Choräle, BWV 651-668
In the last ten years of his life, Bach gathered together and completed a series of chorale arrangements, presumably planning to have them published, just like the third part of the Clavier-Übung in 1739. It concerns a selection of his compositions from much earlier years, when he was working as an organist in Weimar, Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. The collection became known as the 18 Choräle or Leipziger Choräle. Incidentally, 18 Choräle is a misleading title, as the set originally comprised 17 pieces. The eighteenth, Vor deinen Thron tret ich (BWV 668), was added to Bach’s manuscript later on.

BWV: 659
Title: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
Instrument: organ
Genre: organ works
Serie: 18 Choräle (organ)
Year: 1711-13/1739-42
City: Weimar/Leipzig
Special notes: BWV 659a is an earlier version, only known from copies, with a subtle difference in the upper part.

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Organist Leo van Doeselaar

“Bach uses many more notes than necessary and he uses the entire compass of the organ right up to the highest C, Leo van Doeselaar on this special chorale arrangement.”

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Credits

Release date

2 January 2015
Recording date

23 June 2013
Location

Walloon Church, Amsterdam
Organist

Leo van Doeselaar
Organ

Christian Müller, 1734
Producer

Frank van der Weij
Film director

Jan Van den Bossche
Directors of photography

Sal Kroonenberg, Ruben van den Broeke
Grip

Antoine Petiet
Music production, editing and mix

Holger Schlegel
Film editor

Dylan Glyn Jones
Colorist

Jef Grosfeld
Production assistants

Marco Meijdam, Zoë de Wilde

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