Chorale: Ach Gott und Herr BWV 255 by by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) presented by the amazing Netherlands Bach Society and their YouTube from their project All of Bach. Beautiful performance and a lovely and natural theorbo accompaniment setting. Here’s their description:
Bach incorporated chorales into his works in every way possible, often geared to a very specific text or context. The way he used them could differ widely, as you can hear if you put Ach Gott und Herr, BWV 255 – recorded here for All of Bach by the Netherlands Bach Society – alongside chorale no. 3 from Ich elender Mensch, BWV 48. Although the chorales have the same melody, the effect is totally different in each. This difference could be explained by the context of the two chorales, but we know next to nothing about the context of BWV 255. One of the few sources we have is a collection from 1765, by Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emmanuel. The collection includes dozens of chorales published without texts, which were clearly intended as study material for music students. They learned harmony and voice leading from Bach’s chorales.
Netherlands Bach Society
- Mónica Monteiro, soprano
- Bernadett Nagy, alto
- Immo Schröder, tenor
- Bram Trouwborst, bass
- David Mackor, theorbo
