Bist du bei mir, BWV 508 (Be thou with me) by Bach & Stölzel. PDF Sheet Music arranged for classical guitar. Originally composed by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690–1749) and arranged by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Sheet music or tab editions available. Intermediate (Grade 5 or 6).
My PDF Sheet Music Edition – Includes both a notation-only edition and a tab edition.
Originally Bist du bei mir, geh ich mit Freuden (If you are with me, I go with joy) is an aria from Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel’s opera Diomedes from 1718. The aria is best known as Bist du bei mir, BWV 508, a version for voice and continuo, No.25 in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. Often translated “Be thou with me”.
Due to the limited range between voices this arrangement for guitar contains only the continuo line and the melody of Bach’s arrangement without any filling in of the chords. It has been transposed from Eb Major to G Major. The register of the continuo line is generally up an octave with a few exceptions due to overlapping voices. Otherwise, the contour of the melody and continuo line are pretty accurate to the original. Here’s the YouTube Link if you want to watch it there.
Promo Cover and Samples



Dear Prof. Bradford Werner,
This is Dr. Antonio Bulbena From Barcelona ( Spain) and I want just to drop a line of gratitude for your great web, clear, well done and clarifying videos and your excellent teaching in many aspects of the guitar. I am not musician (I work as psychiatrist) and I particularly enjoy the tab versions, but always listening to you clean performances.
Thank you again, for your great task for the guitar.
Thanks so much, glad you’ve been enjoying the materials and site!
Brad, thank you for this. It’s very nice to listen to and it seems do-able given your performance ideas and notes. When you demonstrate the various aspects of the piece, I almost feel as if I’m in your studio again, you’ve always been and still are a great teacher. Take care and all the best, Bonnie
Thanks Bonnie. It’s take a bit of time to get used to navigating through the piece but the actual requirements aren’t too difficult once you know it well. Enjoy!