BWV 318

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Original source: Chorale, Gottes Sohn ist kommen, BWV 318
Chorale Text: Gottes Sohn ist kommen*, by Johann Horn (1544)
Tune: Gottes Sohn ist kommen, Bohemian Brethren 1501/1531, after an early church melody (Zahn 3294)
First Performance: Unknown*
Appearance in Early Collections (Key): Riemenschneider 18; Breitkopf 18; Birnstiel 21; AmB 46II p.127 (down a M2); Levy–Mendelssohn 2; Fasch p.23
Other Harmonizations: None

Notes

This chorale survives without text. The text that appears here is the one provided by editors of the Bach Gesellschaft Ausgabe (BGA).

Speculation regarding liturgical occasion: As Christoph Wolff has suggested, this setting possibly served as the concluding chorale for the Picander–Jahrgang cantata Machet die Thore weit for the 1st Sunday of Advent. Wolff states further that "the style of harmonization resembles that of Bach’s later (post–Jahrgang III) chorale settings." (Bach: the Learned Musician, p.495, footnote 76). Häfner concurs, asserting the high probability ("mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit") that this setting came from the cantata for the 1st Day of Advent in the Picander cycle (Picander 1). (See NBA III/2.2 KB, p.149.)

View a complete listing of speculations regarding the liturgical occasions of individual BWV 253–438 chorales.