Orgelbüchlein

(Ger. "Little Organ Book")

   Famous collection of chorale preludes composed by Johann Sebastian Bach almost certainly during his Weimar years, probably from 1713–1716. The collection is unfinished. The autograph indicates Bach’s intention to provide 164 chorale preludes along the plan of a Lutheran hymnal, with 60 proper hymns preceding the 104 common ones. He finished 46. Their short length, one or two pages of score, made impractical the kind of setting in which each phrase of the chorale initiates a brief fugue, but all other types of chorale prelude are represented, the majority of the pieces presenting the tune unadorned in the highest voice. The pedal is obbligato in all of them, and there is a wide variety of texture and contrapuntal effect, including double canons. According to the title-page, Bach intended the collection to be played and studied by beginners, but many of the pieces are quite difficult by modern standards.