About this edition
Ich freue mich in dir, BWV 133, is one of the radiant chorale cantatas Bach composed in Leipzig for the Third Day of Christmas, first performed on 27 December 1724 as part of his second annual cycle. Built on Kaspar Ziegler's 1697 hymn of Christmas joy and its melody associated with "O Gott, du frommer Gott," the work pairs a luminous opening chorus, crowned by a cornetto doubling the sopranos and a pair of oboes d'amore, with an inward alto aria, "Getrost! es fasst ein heilger Leib," that meditates on the wonder of God taking human flesh. It is a compact, festive score that shows Bach's chorale-cantata method at its most warmly lyrical, and its prominent writing for oboe d'amore makes it a favorite among players of that instrument.
This printing reproduces the score from the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, Band 28, edited by Wilhelm Rust (1822-1892) and published in Leipzig by Breitkopf und Hartel in 1881 (plate B.W. XXVIII). The Bach-Gesellschaft edition was the first complete critical edition of Bach's works, undertaken from 1850 in the wake of the centenary of the composer's death and supported by figures such as Schumann, Liszt, and Brahms. Rust, who prepared more volumes than any other editor of the series, set a standard of scholarly rigor that made these volumes the foundational text of modern Bach performance and research for well over a century.
About this edition:
- Full orchestral score (complete cantata, all movements)
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches
- Reproduced from a public domain historical source
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
This edition reproduces a public domain historical score, making a cherished work of the Christmas repertoire easy to bring to the podium or the desk. We hope it serves conductors, performers, students, and scholars well.
