Chorale

From Young Composers

This article is unfortunately very short and/or underdeveloped. You can help Young Composers by expanding it.

The chorale is originally a hymn of the German Lutheran Church, and features heavily in the works of JS Bach and other German composers. The melody is usually simple and singable as chorales are meant to be sung by the congregation rather than trained choirs.

The first Lutheran chorales did not feature the regular rhythms that they later took on. They had often a mixture of duple and triple time and a great amount of the free rhythm of plainsong. During the 17th century it become normal to place the hymn tune in the treble, as today. Four-part settings of chorales were made in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.

Forms based on the Chorale

Many forms are based on the chorale, the majority of which come from the German Baroque. These include:

• Chorale Prelude
• Chorale Fugue
• Cantata

The chorale in the works of JS Bach

The chorale features heavily in the works of JS Bach, among other composers of his time. In fact, the repertory of the German chorale may be said to have been completed in Bach's day. He composed only 30 chorales, but made some 400 reharmonisations of existing chorales melodies, using them to great effect in his setting of the Passions. Bach wrote many chorale preludes for organ, and all of his cantatas are based on a chorale, each movement being the setting of a different verse of the text. Bach's harmonisations of these chorale melodies have been studied by students of harmony for centuries as they are perfect demonstrations of 4-part harmony.

Useful Links

• Complete sets of all four-part Bach chorale settings
• List of chorale harmonisations by JS Bach
• Recordings of some of Bach's Chorale Preludes for organ