On August 27, 1731 there was a church service in Leipzig after a new city council was elected. Johann Sebastian Bach composed a cantata for the occasion, and this is the final chorale from it. The hymn text was written by Johann Gramann. His original version is four stanzas, though in Königsburg in 1549 a fifth stanza appeared, we don’t know from whom, and it is this doxological fifth stanza that Bach set for the chorale of this council election cantata. The fifth stanza does not appear in modern English hymnals, though Matthew Carver has translated it, and we have used his translation with permission. This chorale is among the more vocally complex and originally had trumpets and timpani, along with other instruments that followed the voices. It is also a very high chorale. Instead of singing it at A440, we sang it at A415, or Baroque pitch, which lowers everything by half a step (so you’ll notice the practice tracks are a half step higher than the recording).
