Bach Motet 1 (Singet dem Herrn) Vocal Score

 

Vocal Scores for Motet 1 (Singet dem Herrn)

 

 

 

The most popular vocal score for Bach's Motet 1 (Singet dem Herrn) is shown below.  

 

Rehearsal recordings to help learn your voice part (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) are described below.

 

Full Video Version  to hear the work in full is also below

 

 

 

 

The Barenreiter edition is for SATB 

 

 

Catalogue Number:BA5129

 

ISMN:9790006464944

 

Please click here if you wish to order and further vocal score information

      

 

 

"Singet dem Herrn" is one of the six motets written by JS Bach for unaccompanied choir. Opinions differ as to the reasons and circumstances of its composition (about which more below), but its outstanding musical craftsmanship is not in dispute. 

 

 

"Singet dem Herrn ein Neues Lied" ("Sing unto the Lord a new song") is widely considered the greatest of Bach's set of six motets. The purpose for which the motets were written is not known; however, the survival of Bach's autograph score and parts have in this instance allowed a dating of 1726 or 1727. Bach was under no obligation to provide motets for the Lutheran liturgy in Leipzig (which explains their small number in comparison with his huge output of cantatas), but it seems possible that all but the present work were written for funerals.

An alternative and persuasive argument has been advanced by the great Bach scholar Christoph Wolff, who believes that motets such as the present work were written for didactic purposes -- to teach Bach's many pupils varying aspects of compositional and performance technique. Such a theory fits this complex and extraordinarily inventive motet very well, for it is a technical tour de force that makes considerable demands on its performers. The text consists of a typical juxtaposition of biblical texts (Psalms 149 and 150) and the text of two hymns from the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries), here augmented by an anonymous poetic text. The motet is cast in three distinct sections, fast, slow, and fast. It opens with an eight-part chorus, which after a homophonic introduction proceeds to a section in which one four-part choir is used to accompany a fugal development by the other, an extraordinary and at the time unique device. The central slower section is also layered and divided into two four-part choruses, with the anonymous poetic text freely juxtaposed with the stricter lines of the chorale melody. The final section initially returns to the animated homophony of the opening, but subsequently evolves into a four-part fugue with the two choirs combined.

Unlike the cantatas, which quickly dropped from the repertoire after Bach's death, performances of the motets continued in Leipzig. In 1789, a performance of "Singet dem Herrn" was mounted for Mozart when he visited the city; after hearing the motet, he is said to have exclaimed, "That is really something from which one can learn a great deal!"
 

For further information of Bach's Motets, please click here to visit the Wikipedia website

 

 

      

 

ChoraLine 'Voice Part' Rehearsal CDs & EasyPlay (Stream & Download) 

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Please click here to hear a ChoraLine sample for Singet dem Herrn

 

      

 

Choral Performance CD

If you wish to have a CD of Bach's Motets to hear the whole work please click here and please do click on the video below to listen right away if you wish.