Gottfried August Homilius, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland

Gottfried August Homilius (2 February 1714 – 2 June 1785) was a German composer, cantor and organist. As part of his musical education he took composition lessons from Johann Sebastian Bach. He was probably also a pupil of, and assistant to, the organist at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, Johann Schneider. From 1742 he was organist at the Dresden Frauenkirche, and from 1755 until his death cantor at the Kreuzkirche in Dresden.

Homilius was an important figure in late 18th-century German music, and together with J.F. Doles, Kantor of the Leipzig Thomaskirche, the most important Protestant church composer of his day. Homilius composed Lieder, chamber works, and pieces in almost every genre of church music: organ works, about 60 motets, more than 200 sacred cantatas, Magnificat settings, Passion music and oratorios. Most of his organ pieces probably originated during his term as organist, and taking the chorale settings of Pachelbel and Bach as their model they combine strong ties with tradition and the taste of the Empfindsamkeit. The choralepreludes present either single lines of the chorale or the entire melody as cantus firmus, and use contrapuntal techniques to reproduce the underlying mood of the text.

The chorale prelude to “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland”, is written as an organ trio and presents the chorale melody as cantus firmus for the left hand. The right hand plays plays an accompaniment characterised by a dotted rythm and is mostly based on broken chords.

The recording was done on the sample set of the Holzey organ of St. Peter and Paul in Weissenau by Prospectum.

Score
Homilius, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland

Performance

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