Description
A Christmas hymn by Johann Rist, set in F major and 3/4, Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist (Rouse yourself, my feeble spirit) moves calmly around melody and bass, as if being sung. One of its verses is also sung as a chorale in the Christmas Oratorio. This version comes from the Schemelli Gesangbuch, a hymnbook printed in Leipzig in 1736, to which Bach contributed in the form of melody and bass.
The writing is simple, with the hymn tune carried as a singer would carry it. At 122 notes in 61 seconds, about two per second, the motion is calm, and its range, C2 to F5, fits on a 61-key keyboard.
Rated beginner. With few notes and small hand movements, it is an easy first piece by Bach. The tasks are to join the melody as if singing and keep the triple time steady. Check the roles of melody and bass with the hand colours, listen to each hand alone at a reduced playback speed, then put them together while repeating one phrase with the A-B loop. Keeping the melody's breathing points in mind brings out its shape as a song.
A broad collection of standalone piano pieces not belonging to any specific set, offering hundreds of varied character pieces to explore and compare.
Browse all songs in Piano Pieces →Sheet Music
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.
View all works by Bach →