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In music, a chorale prelude is a short liturgical composition for organ
Organ (music)

The organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard played either Manual or Pedal clavier. The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the European classical music....
 using a chorale
Chorale

A chorale was originally a hymn of the Lutheran church sung by the entire congregation. In casual modern usage, the term also includes classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....
 tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque
Baroque music

Baroque music describes a period or style of European classical music approximately extending from Dates of classical music eras. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance music and was followed by the Classical music era....
 era and reached its culmination in the works of J.S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organ whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque music period and brought it to its ultimate maturity....
, who wrote 46 (with a 47th unfinished
Unfinished work

An unfinished work is a creative work that has not been finished. Its creator might have chosen never to finish it, or have been prevented by circumstances outside of his or her control ....
) examples of the form in his Orgelbüchlein
Orgelbüchlein

The Orgelb?chlein was written by Johann Sebastian Bach during the period of 1708?1714, while he was in court organist at the ducal court in Weimar....
.

liturgical function of a chorale prelude
Prelude

A Prelude is something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows after it. It may also refer to:*Prelude , a musical style*The Prelude, a poem by Marlon Pastrana...
 in the Baroque period is debated. 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.

ough it was typically a polyphonic setting, the melody would be plainly audible.






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In music, a chorale prelude is a short liturgical composition for organ
Organ (music)

The organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard played either Manual or Pedal clavier. The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the European classical music....
 using a chorale
Chorale

A chorale was originally a hymn of the Lutheran church sung by the entire congregation. In casual modern usage, the term also includes classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....
 tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque
Baroque music

Baroque music describes a period or style of European classical music approximately extending from Dates of classical music eras. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance music and was followed by the Classical music era....
 era and reached its culmination in the works of J.S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organ whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque music period and brought it to its ultimate maturity....
, who wrote 46 (with a 47th unfinished
Unfinished work

An unfinished work is a creative work that has not been finished. Its creator might have chosen never to finish it, or have been prevented by circumstances outside of his or her control ....
) examples of the form in his Orgelbüchlein
Orgelbüchlein

The Orgelb?chlein was written by Johann Sebastian Bach during the period of 1708?1714, while he was in court organist at the ducal court in Weimar....
.

Function

The liturgical function of a chorale prelude
Prelude

A Prelude is something that serves as a preceding event or introduces what follows after it. It may also refer to:*Prelude , a musical style*The Prelude, a poem by Marlon Pastrana...
 in the Baroque period is debated. 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.

Style

Although it was typically a polyphonic setting, the melody would be plainly audible. There was sometimes an obbligato
Obbligato

In european classical music obbligato usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking ad libitum....
 line above or below the melody. As an independent genre, the chorale prelude began with the works of Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude

Dieterich Buxtehude was a German-Danish organist, lutenist and a highly regarded composer of the Baroque period. His organ works comprise a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and church services....
, 48 of which are listed as extant in New Grove II. Numerous examples also exist from the 19th and 20th centuries, including some by Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms , composer and pianist, was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic music. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene....
 and Max Reger
Max Reger

Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, Conducting, pianist, organist, and teacher....
. Works in the form continue to be composed in the present day.

Form

Most of the chorale prelude form is a theme and variation with a "long A" where the voices retrograde, invert, imitate while following the original basso continuo.

Baroque period

Probably, the earliest record of a melody used in chorale prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organ whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque music period and brought it to its ultimate maturity....
 is his arrangement of Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (BWV 604). this melody appears in a manuscript c1370, in the city of Celle
Celle

Celle is a town and capital of the district of Celle , in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated in the southernmost part of the L?neburg Heath on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser....
. Later, it appears with an original text by Martin Luther, printed in the Geystliche Gesangk Buchleyn (edited by Johann Walter), in Wittenberg, 1524. In 1715, the hymn's book of Gotha
Gotha

Gotha may refer to:* Gotha , a town in Thuringia, Germany* Gotha , in Thuringia, Germany* Saxe-Gotha, a former Thuringian duchy* Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, a former Thuringian duchy...
, Gerrmany, had already printed thee melody of Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ. Soon after, in 1717, Bach was requested by the Duke of Saxe Gotha to present a musical passion.
However, in a singular style, chorale prelude appeared first in the works of Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude

Dieterich Buxtehude was a German-Danish organist, lutenist and a highly regarded composer of the Baroque period. His organ works comprise a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and church services....
 (1637-1707), and includes 48 extensive compositions.

Besides Bach, Pachelbel's music is of special importance, with many of his chorale preludes elaborated upon the Protestant melodies of Northern Germany.

Romantic period and twentieth century

There are several examples of XIX and XX Century chorale preludes, for instance, the eleven works by Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms , composer and pianist, was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic music. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene....
 a year before he died and published in 1902., also Max Reger
Max Reger

Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, Conducting, pianist, organist, and teacher....
's and Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber

Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is among his most popular compositions and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music....
's. Works such as these continue to be produced nowadays such as Helmut Walcha
Helmut Walcha

Helmut Walcha was a blind Germany Organ who specialized in the works of the Dutch and German baroque masters and is known for his subtly interpreted and powerful recordings of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach....
's four volumes and the seven volumes of Flor Peeters
Flor Peeters

Flor Peeters was a Belgian composer, organist and teacher.Born and raised in the village of Tielen , he was the youngest child in a family of eleven....
.

Johannes Brahms

Op. 122, eleven Chorale Preludes for Organ (1896)
  • No. 1 Mein Jesu, der du mich
  • No. 2 Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen
  • No. 3 O Welt, ich muss dich lassen
  • No. 4 Herzlich tut mich erfreuen
  • No. 5 Schmücke dich, o Liebe Seele
  • No. 6 O wie selig seid ihr doch, ihr Frommen
  • No. 7 O Gott, du frommer Gott
  • No. 8 Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen
  • No. 9 Herzlich tut mich verlangen
  • No. 10 Herzlich tut mich verlangen (second version)
  • No. 11 O Welt, ich muss dich lassen (second version)


Max Reger

Chorale Prelude for Organ, op. 79b (1900-1904)
  • No. 1 'Ach Gott, verlaß mich nicht
  • No. 2 'Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott
  • No. 3 'Herr, nun selbst den Wagen halt'
  • No. 4 'Morgenglanz der Ewigkeit
  • No. 5 'Mit Fried und Freud fahr ich dahin'
  • No. 6 'We weiss, wie nahe mir mein Ende'
  • No. 7 'Auferstehn, ja auferstehn wirst Du'
  • No. 8 'Christ ist erstanden von dem Tod'
  • No. 9 'Christus, Der ist mein Leben'
  • No. 10 'Mit Fried und Freud fahr ich dahin'
  • No. 11 'Nun danket alle Gott'
  • No. 12 'Herr, nun selbst den Wagen halt
  • No. 13 'Warum solit ich mich gramen'
In addition to Max Reger's Opus 79b, he also wrote 30 small chorale preludes, op. 135a (1914)