BWV 172.6

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Original source: Cantata, Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!, BWV 172
Chorale Text: Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (verse 4), by Philipp Nicolai (1599)
Tune: Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, by Philipp Nicolai (1599), after Straßburg 1538* (Zahn 8359)
First Performance: 20 May 1714, Whit Sunday
Appearance in Early Collections (Key): Riemenschneider 323; Breitkopf 322; AmB 46II p.73
Other Harmonizations: BWVs 1.6, 36.4, 436

Notes

On the origin of Nicolai’s melody: In a brief 1917 article, C. Sanford Terry has shown the close relationship of Nicolai’s melody to an earlier melody found in Wolff Köphel’s 1538 Psalter hymnal. The tune is used for a setting of Psalm 100, Jauchzet dem Herren, Alle Land. Terry states: "[The Psalter melody] consists of five lines or phrases, the first, second, and fifth of which, it will be observed, are practically identical with the first half of Nicolai’s tune." (The Musical Times, Vol.58, No.893 (July 1, 1917), pp. 302–303)