BWV 419

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Original source: Chorale, Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, BWV 419
Chorale Text: Von Gott will ich nicht lassen*, by Ludwig Helmbold (1563)
Tune: Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, Erfurt 1563, based on a secular melody (Zahn 5264b)
First Performance: Unknown
Appearance in Early Collections (Key): Riemenschneider 114; Breitkopf 114; Birnstiel 118; Fasch p.103
Other Harmonizations: BWVs 73.5, 107.7, 417, 418

Notes

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

In the Fasch manuscript, this setting is attributed jointly to J.S. and C.P.E. Bach. Since phrases 1, 3 and 4 are virtually identical respectively to BWV 16.6, Hans–Joachim Schulze has inferred (presumably by deduction) that the remaining phrases (2, 5 and 6) were composed by the Bach son. (See his 2003 article summarizing the Fasch manuscript in Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts fur Musikforschung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Vol. 2003 (2003), pages 9–31, particularly pages 11–13.) The two settings feature different chorale melodies whose phrases 1, 3 and 4 correspond almost exactly. For a full comparison of the two melodies, see the www.bach-cantatas.com pages devoted to either melody: Von Gott will ich nicht lassen (BWV 419) or Helft mir Gotts Güte preisen (BWV 16.6).