page_title: Orgelbüchlein
section_title: New Year BWV 613–615
hierarchical_section_title: Orgelbüchlein / Chorale Preludes BWV 599–644 / New Year BWV 613–615
caption_attribution_description: English: Note: While the article Orgelbüchlein is stll being written do not transfer this file to commons particularly if the detailed in the description, the source and the uploader are omitted when doing the transfer. Autograph manuscript of "Das alte Jahre vergangen ist" from the Orgelbüchlein
context_page_description: The Orgelbüchlein BWV 599−644 is a set of 45 chorale preludes for organ — one of them is given in two versions — by Johann Sebastian Bach. All but three were written between 1708 and 1717 when Bach served as organist to the ducal court in Weimar; the remainder and a short two-bar fragment came no earlier than 1726, after the composer’s appointment as cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig.
  The plan was for a collection of 164 settings of chorale tunes sung during the Church year so that each part of the year was represented. Although this number was not to be, the Orgelbüchlein does span the calendar and more importantly signals a maturity and new breadth in Bach’s compositional style, not only with regard to this instrument.
  Each setting takes an existing Lutheran chorale, adds a motivic accompaniment, and quite freely explores form. Many of the preludes are short and in four parts, requiring only a single keyboard and pedal, with an unadorned cantus firmus. Others involve two keyboards and pedal. These include several canons, four ornamental four-part preludes with elaborately decorated chorale lines, and one prelude in trio sonata form.
context_section_description: BWV 613 Helft mir Gotts Güte preisen [Help me to praise God's goodness] play MIDI  • play MP3
  Below is the first verse of this New Year's hymn of Paul Eber with the English translation by John Christian Jacobi.
  Helft mir Gott's Güte preisen,
  ihr lieben Kinderlein,
  mit G'sang und andrer Weisen
  ihm allzeit dankbar sein,
  vornehmlich zu der Zeit,
  da sich das Jahr tut enden,
  die Sonn' sich zu uns wenden,
  das Neujahr ist nicht weit.
  Come, let us All, with Fervour,
  On whom Heaven's Mercies shine,
  To our Supreme Preserver
  In tuneful Praises join.
  Another Year is gone;
  Of which the tender Mercies
  (Each pious Heart rehearses)
  Demand a grateful Song.
   BWV 614 Das alte Jahr vergangen ist [The old year has passed] a 2 Clav. et Ped. play MIDI  • play MP3
  Below are the six verses of this New Year's hymn with the English translation of Catherine Winkworth.
  Das alte Jahr vergangen ist,
  wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ,
  daß du uns hast in aller G'fahr
  so gnädiglich behüt't dies Jahr.
   
  Wir bitten dich, ewigen Sohn
  Des Vaters in dem höchsten Thron,
  Du woll'st dein' arme Christenheit
  Ferner bewahren allezeit.
   
  Entzeuch uns nicht dein heilsam Wort,
  welch's ist der Seelen Trost und Hort,
  vor's Papsts Lehr' und Abgötterei
  bewahr uns, Herr, und steh uns bei!
   
  Hilf, daß wir von der Sand' ablan
  Und fromm zu werden fahen an.
  Kein'r Sünd' im alten Jahr gedenk,
  Ein gnadenreich neu Jahr uns schenk.
   
  Christlich zu leben, seliglich
  Zu sterben und hernach fröhlich
  Am Jüngsten Tag wied'r aufzustehn,
  Mit dir in Himmel einzugehn,
   
  Zu danken und zu loben dich
  Mit allen Engeln ewiglich.
  O Jesu, unsern Glauben mehr
  Zu deines Namens Lob und Ehr'!
  The old year now hath passed away,
  We thank Thee, O our God, today
  That Thou hast kept us through the year,
  When danger and distress were near.
   
  We pray Thee, O Eternal Son,
  Who with the Father reign'st as One,
  To guard and rule Thy Christendom 
  Through all the ages yet to come.
   
  Take not Thy saving Word away.
  Our souls' true comfort and their stay;
  Abide with us, and keep us free
  From errors, following only Thee.
   
  O help us to forsake all sin, 
  A new and holier course begin, 
  Mark not what once was done amiss;
  A happier, better year be this,
   
  Wherein as Christians we may live,
  Or die in peace that Thou canst give,
  To rise again when Thou shalt come, 
  And enter Thine eternal home. 
   
  There shall we thank Thee, and adore,
  With all the angels evermore; 
  Lord Jesus Christ, increase our faith
  To praise Thy name through life and death.
   
  Customarily sung on New Year's Day, the hymn addresses thanks for the past year and prayers for the coming year to Christ. Although primarily a supplication looking forwards to the future, the hymn also looks back at the past, reflecting on the perils facing man, his sins and his transitory existence.
  The version of the hymn that Bach used for BWV 614 only emerged gradually. The first two verses of the hymn text were first published in Clemens Stephani's Nuremberg hymnbook of 1568; the entire six verses of the text appeared in Johann Steuerlein's Erfurt hymnbook of 1588. An early version of the melody also appeared in Steuerlein's hymnbook, but set to different words (Gott Vater, der du deine Sonn). That melody first appeared with the text in Erhard Bodenschatz's Leipzig hymnbook of 1608. One of the earliest known sources for the version of the hymn used by Bach is Gottfried Vopelius's Leipzig hymnbook of 1682. Prior to modern scientific methods for dating Bach's autograph manuscripts, scholars had relied on identifying hymnbooks available to him to determine exactly when Orgelbüchlein was written. Terry (1921) erroneously assigned a date after 1715, because the earliest source for Das alte Jahr he had been able to locate was Christian Friedrich Witt's Gotha hymnbook, first published in 1715. As is now known,  Bach set Das alte Jahr early in his career as BWV 1091, one of the chorale preludes in the Neumeister Collection; he also composed two four-part harmonisations, BWV 288 and 289.
  The chorale prelude BWV 614 is written for two manuals and pedal with the cantus firmus in the sop
caption: Autograph manuscript of Das alte Jahre vergangen ist, BWV 614
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