About this edition
Composed for Christmas Day 1724 in Leipzig, Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ belongs to Bach's ambitious second cantata cycle, the great series of chorale cantatas, and takes as its foundation Martin Luther's 1524 hymn for the Nativity. From the opening bars the scoring proclaims the feast: three horns and timpani blaze against a choir of three oboes and strings while the sopranos, reinforced by horn, intone Luther's ancient melody line by line. What follows is among Bach's most vividly festive Christmas music — a brilliantly demanding tenor aria, a tender soprano–alto duet contemplating the poverty God embraced in becoming human, a bass recitative interwoven with the chorale, and a concluding four-part setting crowned by horn fanfares.
This volume reproduces the score as published in 1875 in Band 22 of the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, plate B.W. XXII), the first collected edition of Bach's works, issued volume by volume between 1851 and 1899. Band 22 was edited by Wilhelm Rust (1822–1892), later Thomaskantor at Leipzig, who prepared more of the edition than any other scholar. Rust's meticulous engagement with Bach's autographs and original performing parts made his volumes a lasting benchmark for critical musical editing, and for generations the Bach-Gesellschaft text has served as the primary source for performing and studying the cantatas.
About this edition:
- Full orchestral score (conductor's score), presenting all vocal and instrumental parts
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches
- Reproduced from a public domain historical edition
- Publisher: Purple 4R Publishing
This edition reproduces a public domain historical score, freely available for everyone to use and enjoy. We are glad to help bring this classic work to conductors, performers, students, and scholars in a clean, readable printing.
