Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ in F Minor

The text of the dark-hued 16th-century hymn on which BWV 639 is built outlines a heartfelt, even tortured plea for grace, and for the strength to live out a Christian life. Cast in a brooding F minor, its tone is at once sober and supplicatory; and if the primary purpose of a chorale prelude is to alert the congregation to the melody and key of the hymn, Bach does so here with a directness that would have met with the approval of those who had previously chided him for over-elaborate obfuscation. Allotted to the right hand, the hymn tune is stated simply with little embellishment, and, compounding the air of mournful solemnity, it’s underpinned by the steady quaver tread of the pedals. Equally single-mindedly, the left hand enriches the middle ground all the while with an unbroken skein of anguished notes that ultimately find solace and reassurance in the concluding Tierce de Picardie turning minor to major, and a resolution replete with hope and trust. About J.S. Bach’s Orgelbüchlein Begun in 1713 and designed to assist an aspiring organist in the art of elaborating Lutheran hymn tunes, the Little Organ Book was Bach’s first collection of chorale preludes, and its ambition was typically bold. Containing artful miniatures shadowing the liturgical year from Advent to Pentecost, it also includes some non-seasonal preludes pondering theological concerns. But of the 164 intended chorales, just 46 were entered into the specially bound manuscript, which enshrines examples of how to ornament a chorale melody or deploy counterpoint in probing the meaning of the text. Mendelssohn brought most of the collection to posthumous publication; one that influenced Brahms’ compositional swan song: the 11 Chorale Preludes Op. 122.