Chorale harmonisations

In the 1500s the Lutheran church began to use hymns called 'chorales'. At first these hymns had simple melodies for people to sing.

Melody of a Bach chorale

Later, musicians began to write more complicated music based on these melodies. Often a composer would write three more lines of music to be sung by different parts of a choir at the same time as the original melody. We call the result a harmonisation of the tune. The extra voices alter and enhance the original melody.

Johann Sebastian Bach

J.S.Bach (1685 - 1750) was a German composer and organist of the Baroque period - and universally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. He wrote many harmonisations based on chorale tunes. About 400 of them survive.

Bach's harmonisation of the melody above

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