Below is a sortable cross–reference index listing the chorales among important early collections. The headings correspond to source labels used in the Neue Bach Ausgabe (NBA) volumes devoted to the chorales (Volumes III/2.1 and III/2.2). Since some chorales appear multiples times within these collections, some settings have repeat listings. A chorale in bold indicates that a duplicate of the setting appears elsewhere in that particular collection. A chorale in italics indicates a repeat listing of a setting that appears twice in a different collection.

BWV: The Schmieder catalogue number.

F1: The Breitkopf edition published in four volumes from 1784 to 1787 (one volume per year). The original Breitkopf collection was edited primarily by C.P.E. Bach (though the first two volumes were based on an earlier abandoned publication project by the publisher Birnstiel which was partially edited by Johann Marpurg and Johann Agricola). Almost all of the individual BWV 253–438 chorales owe their survival to this collection of 371 chorales, which has served as a basis for modern editions of "the 371." "F1" is presented in Volume III/2.2 of the NBA. See bach–digital source info page.

A1: The Dietel Collection (c.1735). This handwritten collection of 149 chorales is the earliest extant compilation of Bach chorales. Ludwig Dietel sang in Bach’s Thomanerchor from 1727 to 1735 and copied this manuscript during his time in Leipzig no earlier than 1735, based on the dating of chorales in the collection. (The closing chorale from Cantata 14 from January 1735 appears in the collection.) "A1" is included in Volume III/2.1 of the NBA. See bach–digital source info page.

A3: AmB II46, pages 217–334. The copyist for this handwritten collection has been identified as "Anonymous J.S. Bach VI" (Blechschmidt) who has an association with Johann Kirnberger (see NBA III/2.1 KB, p.27). The date of this manuscript has been placed variously at "around 1770" (Kobayashi) and "between 1776 and 1783" (bach–digital.com). In this source, four–part chorales are found in two sections, which the NBA scholars have identified with two separate labels — "A3" (pp. 217–334) and "C" (pp. 65–216). "A3" has been labeled in the A–family of sources due to its correspondence with A1, the Dietel Collection. See NBA III/2.1 KB pp.27ff and III/2.2 KB p.15. This source is available for viewing here. See bach–digital source info page.

B1: The Birnstiel edition, issued in two volumes in 1765 and 1769, is the earliest published collection of Bach’s chorales. Only two of the projected four volumes were issued, in 1765 and 1769, before Birnstiel was forced to abandon the project due to poor sales. The two Birnstiel volumes served as templates for volumes 1 and 2 of the Breitkopf, and the complicated history of these two related volumes and the editors involved (Marpurg, C.P.E. Bach, Agricola, Kirnberger, et al) can be found here. This source is discussed on pp.15–24 in the NBA III/2.2 KB. See bach–digital source info page.

C: AmB II46, pages 65–216. See info above under Source A3. In addition to the information provided there, it is worth noting that Source C is divided into four sections (described on pages 98ff of the NBA III/2.2 KB in which Wolfgang Wiemer’s 1987 Bach Jahrbuch article is cited) which accounts for high number of duplicate settings in this source. Section 1 is from 1–28, section 2 from 29–66, section 3 from 67–88, and section 4 from 89–252. (Weimer extends section 2 only to Chorale 64.) Sections 1 and 3 correspond to the final section of the Breitkopf, beginning with Breitkopf 304, while sections 2 and 4 correspond to both the Penzel collection and the first half of the Breitkopf, especially from Breitkopf 128 to 247. Sorting the below table by Source C clearly reveals the divisions. source info page.

D: The Levy–Mendelssohn Collection. A collection of 72 chorales copied by an unknown Berlin copyist dating from "before 1800." The manuscript is discussed on page 34 of NBA III/2.2 KB. This source is available for viewing here. See bach–digital source info page.

E: The Penzel Collection. A collection of 126 chorales in the hand of Christian Friedrich Penzel, who entered the Leipzig Thomasschule and became one of Bach’s last students. This collection, which is dated c.1780–1799, is discussed on 37–41 of the NBA Volume III/2.2 KB. See bach–digital source info page.

Fasch: The Fasch Collection (SA 818): A 1762 collection of 167 Bach chorales in the hand of Carl Friedrich Fasch who worked as an assistant organist alongside C.P.E. Bach in the 1750s and 1760s in Frederick the Great’s court in Prussia. This collection was considered lost for many years until it was rediscovered in Kiev in 1999. Due to its recent discovery, the NBA commentaries on the Bach chorales (volumes III/2.1 & III/2.2) do not treat this source. The Fasch collection is available for viewing here. See bach–digital source info page.