Chorale setting "Gib dich zufrieden und sei stille" in D minor
Description
Set in D minor, this piece gives a darker shade than BWV 510 in F major to words meant to calm a troubled heart. The poem is Paul Gerhardt's Gib dich zufrieden und sei stille; in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach this is the second setting of it, catalogued as BWV 511.
It is in 4/4, about 44 seconds long with 125 notes. The writing is spare, melody in the right hand and bass in the left, suggesting the harmony through two interwoven lines rather than thick chords. It is longer than BWV 510 and rises as high as B-flat 5, so the melody's rise and fall feels somewhat wider. The minor-key line moves up and down and settles quietly at the end of each phrase.
It is rated beginner, and with so few notes each one is clearly heard. The range runs from D2 to B-flat 5, so it fits on a 61-key keyboard. The task is to convey the weight of the minor key through length of note and space between notes rather than through force. Slow the playback to check how the two lines combine with the hand colours, and play it in turn with BWV 510 and 512 to hear how the three settings of one poem differ in character.
Chorale settings by Bach, weaving intricate counterpoint around hymn melodies into solemn, prayerful music.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach was the towering figure of German Baroque music, serving for decades as Cantor of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Renowned for his mastery of counterpoint, he laid the foundations of keyboard music with works such as The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Inventions. This site includes minuets and polonaises from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, the Inventions and Sinfonias, and fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier. The Notebook pieces are catalogued with BWV Anh. (appendix) numbers, but many are by other composers - Petzold's minuets among them - or by no one known, and most of their song pages give the current view of who wrote them.
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