Christian Gotthilf Tag, Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht

by admin · May 24, 2021

[I published this piece three weeks ago; it was however not yet backed up when I needed to restore the website’s database this weekend. So, here it is again]

Christian Gotthilf Tag (1735 – 1811) was a German Kantor and composer. Tag was a prolific composer and his music was highly appreciated by his contemporaries. After his death however, his music was mostly forgotten. And that is a pity because it is actually quite nice music.

Since I started my website with newly engraved scores of often forgotten masters of organ music, there were a few composers who’s music appealed greatly to me. Tag is one of these composers. I’m glad I encountered two manuscripts with his music, otherwise I would probably never have got to know his music. With publishing these scores I hope that some of my fellow organists will feel the same way about his music. It would be nice if his music were played more often.

Tag’s prelude to the choral “Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht” is rather unusual compared to his choral preludes I’ve played thus far. It is a manualiter piece and it leans more towards the classicism then towards the Baroque. Nevertheless, Tag wrote an attractive piece that at first hearing does not give the impression of being a choral prelude. The harmonic and melodic outline does however closely follow the choral melody. Again a very nice composition by Christian Gotthilf Tag.

The recording was done with the Hauptwerk software and the sampleset, made by Sonus Paradisi, of the Schittger organ in the St. Martini-kerk, Groningen

Score
Tag, Herr, Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht