page_title: Magnificat (Bach)
section_title: A. Vom Himmel hoch
hierarchical_section_title: Magnificat (Bach) / Structure and movements / The hymns added in the Christmas 1723 version / A. Vom Himmel hoch
caption_attribution_description: Aus dem Straßburger Gesangbuch 1541: "Kinderliede auff die Weihenachten" (Vom Himmel hoch) (Prädikantenbibliothek Isny, Theol. 255)
context_page_description: Johann Sebastian Bach's Magnificat, BWV 243, is a musical setting of the biblical canticle Magnificat. It is scored for five vocal parts, and a Baroque orchestra including trumpets and timpani. It is the first major liturgical composition on a Latin text by Bach.
  In 1723, after taking up his post as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, Bach set the text of the Magnificat in a twelve movement composition in the key of E-flat major. For a performance at Christmas he inserted four hymns related to that feast. This version, including the Christmas interpolations, was given the number 243.1 in the catalogue of Bach's works.
  Likely for the feast of Visitation of 1733, or another feast in or around that year, Bach produced a new version of his Latin Magnificat, without the Christmas hymns: instrumentation of some movements was altered or expanded, and the key changed from E-flat major to D major, for performance reasons of the trumpet parts. This version of Bach's Magnificat is known as BWV 243.2.
  After publication of both versions in the 19th century, the second became the standard for performance. It is one of Bach's most popular vocal works.
context_section_description: The text is the first stanza of "Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her", a hymn by Martin Luther paraphrasing the annunciation to and adoration of the shepherds from Luke 2:8–18. Bach sets this first laudes a cappella in four parts, and, like the two preceding movements, in the tonic key. The form is a chorale fantasia, with all sopranos singing the 1539 chorale melody attributed to Luther as a cantus firmus, while the lower voices make the counterpoint by imitating sections of the melody line in diminished time. Where the Latin of the preceding movements may have been largely incomprehensible for the congregation in Bach's time, here is a first movement that was not only recognizable for the words, but also for the melody: the Vom Himmel hoch chorale would have been sung by the congregation the preceding evening during the Christmas Eve service.
  Quarter of a century later Bach returned to the chorale melody of "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her", writing a set of five canonic variations on that theme (BWV 769), one of a few compositions printed during the composer's lifetime. Bach also included three settings of the chorale melody in his Christmas Oratorio. BWV 606 (in the Orgelbüchlein), 700, 701, 738 and 738a are chorale preludes based on the "Vom Himmel hoch" theme.
caption: "Vom Himmel hoch", Luther's hymn in a 1541 songbook
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