Johann Sebastian Bach (?), Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund (Emans 48)

Bach’s authorship of the this choral prelude to “Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund” is doubted. It doesn’t even appear in the annex (Anhang) to the BWV-catalogue of Bach’s works. It does however appear in the Emans-catalogue, where it has number 48. The only manuscript source of this piece is not very expertly written. If it is indeed a work by Bach, the scribe must have made lots of errors. There are illogical leaps within voices, voices appear and disappear at random, parallel octaves occur. Even in his youth, Bach did not write so carelessly.

Until now the scores on this site are a faithful copy of the manuscript source, with editorial corrections indicated in the score. In this score I deviate from this habit. In my transcription I try to uncover what could once have been the original. Voices that, in my opinion, were added just for the sake of harmony, are left out, illogical leaps are filled in, paralel octaves skipped. The deviations from the manuscript are too numerous to indicate. I think, the result is far better playable, than a literate transcription. Yet I’ll readily admit: for once, my transcription is “utterly unreliable”.

The recording was done on the sample set of the Mascioni of the parisch church in Azzio, made by Piotr Gabrowsky.

Score
Bach, Da Jesu an dem Kreuze stund (Emans 48)

Performance

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