Wir glauben all an einen Gott

BWV 680 performed by Reitze Smits
Lutheran church, The Hague

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Wir glauben, wir glauben!

In this chorale, Bach needed no more than the first seven notes to compose a jubilant prelude

Bach was inspired by the Italian style in composing this organ prelude based on the Creed. He turned it into a trio sonata for two manuals and pedal, which is both exuberant and triumphal. But Bach ignored the long chorale melody for the larger part. Walter’s melody for Luther’s first line, to which the words ‘Wir glauben all an einen Gott’ are sung, were more than enough for him. He formed it into a jubilant theme, in which a buoyant downward leap generates a festive string of semiquavers. The material forms the basis for a dancy fugue that assures the listener that only one thing matters: faith.

Clavier-Übung
In Leipzig, between 1731 and 1741, Bach published four parts of Clavier-Übung, a title used previously by Johann Kuhnau, his predecessor as cantor at the Thomasschule, for similar collections of works for organ and harpsichord. The compositions are very varied in nature and, although the title suggests otherwise, were difficult to play. Bach addresses all the styles, genres and techniques for harpsichord and organ that were prevalent at the time, but then in the superior form to which only he had the patent.

Clavier-Übung I (1731) contains the six partitas, BWV 825-830; Clavier-Übung II (1735) the Concerto nach italienischen Gusto, BWV 971 and the Ouverture nach französischer Art, BWV 831; and Clavier-Übung IV (1741) the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988. The largest part, Clavier-Übung III (1739), is the only one devoted to organ, containing mostly chorale arrangements, or organ preludes based on Lutheran hymns. Bach made two versions of each chorale: one for great organ and one for a smaller type of organ. Most of the chorales refer to the six parts of the catechism. It is unclear whether Bach also played them during the services, or whether he developed his musical ideas in them for his own use, with no intention of performing them in public.

BWV: 680
Title: Wir glauben all an einen Gott
Instrument: organ
Genre: organ works
Serie: Clavier-Übung III
Year: 1739
City: Leipzig

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Organist Reitze Smits

“Reitze Smits about the Bätz organ in the Lutheran Church in The Hague.”

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Release date

27 June 2014
Recording date

28 November 2013
Location

Lutheran Church, The Hague
Organist

Reitze Smits
Organ registration

Arjan de Vos
Organ

Johann Heinrich Hartmann Bätz, 1762
Producer

Frank van der Weij
Film director

Jan Van den Bossche
Directors of photography

Jorrit Garretsen, Sal Kroonenberg
Music production, editing and mix

Holger Schlegel
Film editor

Dylan Glyn Jones
Colorist

Jef Grosfeld
Production assistants

Imke Deters, Zoë de Wilde

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Fughetta super: Wir glauben all an einen Gott

organ works, BWV 681