page_title: Clavier-Übung III
section_title: Pedaliter settings of Kyrie BWV 669–671
hierarchical_section_title: Clavier-Übung III / Chorale preludes BWV 669–689 / Chorale preludes BWV 669–677 (Lutheran mass) / Pedaliter settings of Kyrie BWV 669–671
caption_attribution_description: English: Woodcut of the Creation by Lucas Cranach the Elder illustrating a book on the Apostles by Martin Luther
context_page_description: The Clavier-Übung III, sometimes referred to as the German Organ Mass, is a collection of compositions for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, started in 1735–36 and published in 1739. It is considered Bach's most significant and extensive work for organ, containing some of his most musically complex and technically demanding compositions for that instrument.
  In its use of modal forms, motet-style and canons, it looks back to the religious music of masters of the stile antico, such as Frescobaldi, Palestrina, Lotti and Caldara. At the same time, Bach was forward-looking, incorporating and distilling modern baroque musical forms, such as the French-style chorale.
  The work has the form of an Organ Mass: between its opening and closing movements—the prelude and "St Anne" fugue in E♭ major, BWV 552—are 21 chorale preludes, BWV 669–689, setting parts of the Lutheran mass and catechisms, followed by four duets, BWV 802–805. The chorale preludes range from compositions for single keyboard to a six-part fugal prelude with two parts in the pedal.
context_section_description: The Kyrie was usually sung in Leipzig on Sundays after the opening organ prelude. Bach's three monumental pedaliter settings of the Kyrie correspond to the three verses. They are in strict counterpoint in the stile antico of Frescobaldi's Fiori Musicali. All three have portions of the same melody as their cantus firmus – in the soprano voice for "God the Father", in the middle tenor voice (en taille) for "God the Son" and in the pedal bass for "God the Holy Ghost". Although having features in common with Bach's vocal settings of the Kyrie, for example in his Missa in F major, BWV 233, the highly original musical style is tailored to organ technique, varying with each of the three chorale preludes. Nevertheless, as in other high-church settings of plainsong, Bach's writing remains "grounded in the unchangeable rules of harmony", as described in Fux's treatise on counterpoint, Gradus ad Parnassum." The solidity of his writing might have been a musical means of reflecting 'firmness in faith'. As Williams (2003) observes, "Common to all three movements is a certain seamless motion that rarely leads to full cadences or sequential repetition, both of which would be more diatonic than suits the desired transcendental style."
  Below is the text of the three verses of Luther's version of the Kyrie with the English translation of Charles Sanford Terry:
  Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit,
  
  groß ist dein Barmherzigkeit,
  
  aller Ding ein Schöpfer und Regierer.
  
  eleison!
  
  Christe, aller Welt Trost
  
  uns Sünder allein du hast erlöst;
  
  Jesu, Gottes Sohn,
  
  unser Mittler bist in dem höchsten Thron;
  
  zu dir schreien wir aus Herzens Begier,
  
  eleison!
  
  Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist,
  
  tröst', stärk' uns im Glauben
  
  allermeist daß wir am letzten End'
  
  fröhlich abscheiden aus diesem Elend,
  
  eleison!
  O Lord the Father for evermore!
  
  We Thy wondrous grace adore;
  
  We confess Thy power, all worlds upholding.
  
  Have mercy, Lord.
  
  O Christ, our Hope alone,
  
  Who with Thy blood didst for us atone;
  
  O Jesu! Son of God!
  
  Our Redeemer! our Advocate on high!
  
  Lord, to Thee alone in our need we cry,
  
  Have mercy, Lord.
  
  Holy Lord, God the Holy Ghost!
  
  Who of life and light the fountain art,
  
  With faith sustain our heart,
  
  That at the last we hence in peace depart.
  
  Have mercy, Lord.
  BWV 669 Kyrie, Gott Vater (Kyrie, O God, Eternal Father) play 
  BWV 669 is a chorale motet for two manuals and pedal in  time. The four lines of the cantus firmus in the phrygian mode of G are played in the top soprano part on one manual in semibreve beats. The single fugal theme of the other three parts, two in the second manual and one in the pedal, is in minim beats and based on the first two lines of the cantus firmus. The writing is in alla breve strict counterpoint, occasionally departing from the modal key to B♭ and E♭ major. Even when playing beneath the cantus firmus, the contrapuntal writing is quite elaborate. The many stile antico features include inversions, suspensions, strettos, use of dactyls and the canone sine pausa at the close, where the subject is developed without break in parallel thirds. Like the cantus firmus, the parts move in steps, creating an effortless smoothness in the chorale prelude.
  BWV 670 Christe, aller Welt Trost (Christ, Comfort of all the world) play 
  BWV 670 is a chorale motet for two manuals and pedal in  time. The four lines of the cantus firmus in the phrygian mode of G are played in the tenor part (en taille) on one manual in semibreve beats. As in BWV 669, the single fugal theme of the other three parts, two in the second manual and one in the pedal, is in minim beats and based on the first two lines of the cantus firmus. The writing is again mostly modal, in alla breve strict counterpoint with similar stile antico features and a resulting smoothness. In this case, however, there are fewer inversions, the cantus firmus phrases are longer and freer, and the other parts more widely spaced, with canone sine pausa passages in sixths.
  BWV 671 Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist (Kyrie, O God the Holy Ghost) play 
  BWV 671 is a chorale motet for organum plenum and
caption: Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1527: woodcut of the Creation
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