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The Motets of J. S. Bach

Purchase your own copy of all the Bach Motets sung in German and English

The most popular choral compositions of Bach are, without a doubt, his motets. They were created by Bach using the finest compositional techniques of this most consummate composer. No matter in what language they are performed, they move, inspire, elicit joy and thrill those who hear or perform them.

THE BACH MOTETS – General Information

Despite their popularity, these motets pose mysteries that scholars still strive to solve. Even which motets to include in the canon remains in dispute. No fewer than fourteen works in total have been designated as Bach motets over the years. The six motets in the original Breitkopf and Hartel edition included Ich lasse dich nicht, but not Lobet den herrn, which was not deemed authentic at the time. Later, Ich lasse dich nicht was determined to be by Bach’s uncle, Johann Christoph Bach, while Lobet den herrn was added to the canon. Both remain in dispute in some scholarly circles, but both are presented in these recordings as authentic Bach motets.

Little is known about when and why Bach composed these works. Only one, Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, is known to be composed for a specific event, the October 20, 1729 funeral service for J. H. Ernesti, rector at the Thomasschule. Perhaps other motets were composed for funerals as well, but some seem too joyous for performance at a somber event. Scholars long thought that Bach composed all the motets while at Leipzig, but evidence now suggests that he composed at least two of the motets decades earlier in Weimar. The BWV (Bach Works Catalog) numbers assigned the individual motets in 1950, BWV 225 – 230, but do not put them in chronological order.

Although the origins of the motets may remain a mystery, the deep Christian faith which inspired them is evident for all to hear. The term “motet” means “little word” in French, indicating a choral work focused on a specific text. For Bach, that “word” meant the Word of God as revealed in Scripture.  In the German region of Thuringia where the Bach family lived and worked, motets traditionally included both biblical passages and chorale texts. Members of the Bach family refined this style of motet over several generations, with more than twenty examples preserved in the Altbachisches Archiv. Johann Sebastian Bach built on this family tradition to create the most elaborate, innovative, and inspired examples of the German motet ever composed.

Bach took great care to compose music which fit the chosen texts. This word-painting helped listeners to better understand and interpret the texts. The new English translations presented here were crafted to maintain this word-painting so that English-speaking listeners can enjoy the same understanding as Bach’s German congregations. Bach once wrote “all music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul’s refreshment.” He certainly achieved this end and aim with these glorious motets, truly music that moves the soul.

– Yvonne Grover

THE BACH MOTETS – Extended Notes on each motet:

Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied  (BWV 225)

• Scoring: 8-part double chorus, continuo, strings and woodwinds colla parte
• Scripture: Psalm 149:1-3
• Chorale: Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren, stanza 3, with an anonymous poetic text
• Dating: Often dated to 1727 based on the paper used for the autograph score and parts, the mastery shown in the composition indicates that Bach composed it nearer the end of his life.

Nothing is known of the original performance of this motet, or the reason for its composition. A performance in 1789 was well documented, though, showing that musicians considered Singet dem Herrn Bach’s greatest motet. When Mozart visited Leipzig in 1789, Cantor Johann Friedrich Doles, who had once been Bach’s student, chose this motet for the Thomanerchor to perform for the famous composer. Mozart listened with rapt attention.Amazed at what he heard, he cried out at the end, “Now, there is something one can learn from!”

Bach innovated on traditional motet elements to create something that still sounded innovative to Mozart, almost four decades after Bach’s death.  Motets often included counterpoint, but Bach composed  true four-part choral fugues.  In the opening movement one choir accompanies a fugue in the other choir, something never heard before. Motets often ended with a chorale, but Bach chose to present the chorale in the second movement, sung by one choir and accompanied by an aria in the other choir. Listeners today join Mozart in marveling at the brilliance of Singet dem Herrn, the greatest of Bach’s motets.

Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf (BWV 226)

• Scoring: 8-part double chorus, continuo, strings and woodwinds colla parte
• Scripture: Romans 8: 26-27, Psalm 150: 2 and 6
• Chorale: Komm, heiliger Geist, stanza 3
• Dating: First performance October 20, 1729

Bach had only four days to compose fitting music for his colleague at the Thomasschule, Rector Johann Heinrich Ernesti. The composing score gives evidence that he started the motet using an earlier work for SSATB choir, expanding it for double choir with an original soprano part in each choir. In the following section, he composed new music to portray the text “But the Spirit itself pleads for us in the best way with inexpressible groans,” using an evocative sighing theme in each voice on the word seufzen. In the final section, Bach combines the two choruses into a four-part fugue.

The original score includes instrumental parts in the folio, showing that Bach followed the custom of having instruments double the vocal parts as well as using continuo. No parts exist for the chorale verse, suggesting that it isn’t actually part of the motet. Scholars suggest that the chorale was sung unaccompanied at the graveside, not at the funeral service itself. The chorale fits so perfectly as a closing statement to the Romans text that it is always included in modern performances. Indeed, this brilliant motet would seem incomplete without it.

Jesu, meine Freude (BWV 227)

• Scoring: 5-voice chorus, continuo, oboe
• Scripture: Romans 8: 1, 2, 9-11
• Chorale: Jesu, meine Freude, stanzas 1-6
• Dating: Tradition held that Bach composed this motet for a funeral in 1723, but a printed order of service was later discovered that makes no mention of the motet or the chorale. At least some movements were most likely written in Weimar, as they use the Weimar version of the chorale tune. Student copies of the chorales make 1735 the latest possible year for the composition of this motet.

Bach most likely composed the movements of this motet at various points in his career, assembling them into a structurally symmetric whole. Christoph Wolff, the noted Bach scholar, suggests that Bach assembled this motet as a teaching tool for his students at the Thomasschule. The use of three-part, four-part, and five-part textures in different movements make them useful as choral exercises individually. The texts from Romans also teach the fundamental Lutheran belief of salvation through belief in Christ Jesus, certainly a fitting theological message for the young choristers.

Fürchte dich nicht (BWV 228)

• Scoring: 8-part double chorus, continuo, strings and woodwinds colla parte
• Scripture: Isaiah 41:10 and 43:1
• Chorale: Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen, stanzas 11 and 12
• Dating: Most likely dates to 1712-1713, when Bach was in Weimar.

This motet follows the pattern of a traditional German motet as Bach would have learned from his relatives, making it likely to be composed early in Bach’s musical career. The version of the chorale melody also differs from the version used in Leipzig, making it more appropriate for Weimar. Although often performed in an upbeat tempo, the words of comfort are better expressed with a slower, gentler interpretation of the music.

Komm, Jesu, komm (BWV 229)

• Scoring: 8-part double chorus, continuo, strings and woodwinds colla parte
• Scripture: John 14:6, funeral poem by Paul Thymich, first and last stanzas
• Chorale: None, final poem stanza is set as an aria for 4-part chorus
• Dating: Not later than 1731/1732, as the earliest known score was copied by Christoph Nichelmann, a student at the Thomasschule during those years.

The poem Bach chose for this motet was written for the funeral of the Rector of the Thomasschule in 1684, before Bach was born. The text was published in the Wagner hymnal, a book in Bach’s library, and also set to music by a previous Leipzig Cantor, Johann Schelle. Although the text itself is a poem with rhyme and meter, Bach chose to set it strophically, the same way he would set a text from Scripture. Word-painting is most evident in the use of descending diminished seventh intervals on the word “saure” to portray the bitterness of mortal life.  Bach contrasted that bitterness with a joyful pastorale portraying Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Although the text was originally written for a funeral, it also fits as an Advent prayer for Jesus to come to redeem the world. 

Lobet den Herrn (BWV 230)

• Scoring: 4-part chorus, continuo, strings colla parte
• Scripture: Psalm 117
• Chorale: none
• Dating: No date can be assigned to this motet, first published by Breitkopf in 1821.

Breitkopf & Härtel didn’t include this work in their first edition of the motets, but offered it separately as simply being a work by Johann Sebastian Bach. The work is unique in having an independent basso continuo in places, which was not the custom for motets. Although now catalogued as a motet, the possibility remains that Bach composed it as a movement of a cantata, now lost.

Ich lasse dich nicht (BWV Anh. 159)

• Scoring: 8-part double chorus, continuo, oboe
• Scripture: Genesis 32:26 (with added words “mein Jesu”)
• Chorale: Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz, stanza 3, possibly added to the motet in the 19th century
• Dating: Most likely dates to 1712-1713, when Bach was in Weimar, especially given the similarity to Fürchte dich nicht.

The oldest source for this motet dates to 1712-1713, written partly in Bach’s hand and partly in the hand of his student at that time, Philipp David Krauter. That score lacked a composer’s name, but was known to be by Bach in Leipzig and included in the first published set of motets in 1802. The age of the score may have misled Bach’s son, C. P. E. Bach, to assume it was by a member of the Bach family from a previous generation, and he added it to the Altbachisches Archiv . It was published again in the 1820s, this time attributed to Bach’s uncle, Johann Cristoph Bach. Recent scholarship by Daniel Melamed has restored the proper attribution to J. S. Bach.

– Yvonne Grover