ELEVEN CHORALE PRELUDES FOR ORGAN, OP.

122
Recording: Kevin Bowyer on the organ of Odense Cathedral, Denmark [NI 5262]
Posthumously published 1902. Composed 1896.
The last composition of any composer carries a certain level of mystique, and th
at is true of these chorale preludes, the only organ works of Brahms to carry an
opus number (although he did not assign it). They were written in the summer o
f 1896 after Clara Schumann s death (some may have been conceived earlier), and it
is highly probable that Brahms was already aware of his own illness at that poi
nt. While there is evidence that Brahms intended to prepare them for publicatio
n, there is also a recorded statement that they could be seen as more private co
mpanion pieces to the Vier ernste Gesnge. Like those songs, the preludes are sett
ings (albeit wordless) of religious texts--Lutheran hymns and their associated ch
orale melodies. At any rate, the identity of the preludes as a set is debatable.
The original autograph of all eleven was found on Brahms s desk after his death i
n 1897. The first seven were originally numbered differently (1, 5, 2, 6, 7, 3,
4) from the order we now know. The published order came from an apparent engra
ver s model in the hand of copyist William Kupfer, with corrections in Brahms s hand
. The remaining four preludes were not included in this fair copy, and retain t
heir original numbering. It is possible that he was planning two sets of seven
preludes and did not complete the task. It remains unclear whether the reorderi
ng of the first seven originated with Brahms. It is almost certain, however, th
at he intended for them to be found and released. The eleven were eventually ed
ited and released by Eusebius Mandyczewski (who would also become a principal ed
itor of the Breitkopf & Hrtel Smtliche Werke) in 1902. The pieces were of such ob
vious significance and quality that they were assigned the posthumous opus numbe
r 122, by which they are still known. Four pieces for organ survive from Brahms s
early period (around 1856-57). Two of them, an intense, brooding fugue in A-fl
at minor (WoO 8) and a fine chorale prelude and fugue over O Traurigkeit, o Herze
leid (WoO 7) were actually published in periodicals without opus numbers. But Br
ahms had no particular personal relationship to the instrument (it does accompan
y three early choral works, Op. 12, Op. 27, and Op. 30), and the fact that he tu
rned to it again after forty years for his final opus is remarkable.
The genre of the chorale prelude, forever associated with Johann Sebastian Bach,
was for Brahms a means of paying homage to his musical heritage. He followed t
he conventions of the form, the most important of which was to paraphrase and el
aborate upon the lines of pre-existing Lutheran chorale melodies. Brahms s use of
counterpoint and harmony show a mixture of baroque techniques with romantic sen
sibility. They are all rather short, along the lines of the preludes in Bach s Or
gelbchlein. Brahms chose some extremely familiar melodies and some obscure ones.
While several are associated with texts about death and eternity, other topics
, including penitence and even Christmas, are also included. He probably was co
ntemplating thoughts of mortality while composing them, though, and it may not b
e a coincidence that the last music he would ever write would be No. 11, the sec
ond setting of O Welt, ich mu dich lassen ( O world, I now must leave thee ) with its f
ading echoes and transfigured, lingering closing bars. While Brahms indicated d
ynamics and changes to different manuals (keyboards), he did not indicate any re
gistration. This is up to the performer, with consideration of the instrument b
eing played, for individual organs vary more greatly than any other instrument.
He also largely avoided tempo markings. These masterpieces, their composer s fin
al testament, remain staples of the romantic organ repertoire. No. 1, a full ch
orale fugue, is easily the most elaborate of the set. The slow, majestic, and t
ragic No. 2 leads into No. 3 (the first setting of O Welt, ich mu dich lassen ), wit
h its constantly shifting meters. No. 4, by contrast, is an exuberant shout of
joy and marks a point of demarcation in the set. All of these first preludes ma
ke full use of the pedal board. Nos. 5-8 largely do not, although the pedal ent
rance at the end of No. 7 is powerful. No. 5 is exquisite. Its fast, but gentl
e decorations of the chorale melody are derived by manipulating the melody itsel
f. No. 6, with its beautiful 12/8 flow and major/minor vacillation, is the shor

test. No. 7 rivals No. 1 in terms of content. Its interludes make particularly
effective use of multiple manuals. The almost unbelievably gorgeous No. 8, by
far the most well known, is also the most artful in its near-complete concealmen
t of the original chorale melody. Two greatly contrasting settings of the famou
s Passion chorale are then followed by Brahms s poignant final farewell.
Note: The chorale texts, which appear printed above the melodies in all early ed
itions of the preludes, are given below in both the original German and in the m
etric English translation that appears in the 1928 Novello edition edited by Joh
n E. West. Only the first verse of each chorale text is given.