Sei gegrüsset Jesu gütig (Score)

The organ prelude Sei gegrüsset Jesu gütig was commissioned by the Orgelbüchlein Project, and sponsored by the Oundle Festival with funds provided by Rogers Covey-Crump. The first performance was given by William Whitehead at St Lawrence Church, Towcester, 4 July 2018.

The SATB arrangement of the chorale Sei gegrüsset Jesu gütig was made for Ex Cathedra. It was first performed (preceded by the organ prelude played by Alexander Mason) by the Ex Cathedra choir, directed by Jeffrey Skidmore, with the ‘Soprano in Ripieno’ part sung by the children of the Ex Cathedra Academy of Vocal Music, as an introduction to the Good Friday performance of Bach’s Matthew Passion, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 19 April 2019.

I was delighted and honoured when invited to contribute to the ‘Orgelbüchlein Project’, the ambitious undertaking to complete Bach’s work, curated by William Whitehead. I was even more delighted to be allocated such a lovely tune, which was new to me. Bach’s own fascination with the melody is evident in his Chorale Partita for organ (BWV 768).

I composed the prelude during my stay in Leipzig in January–March 2017, following a visit to meet recently-discovered cousins in the small village of Hollenbach (Baden-Württemberg). My German grandparents were born there, and were economic migrants to England in the 1880s. Since I was unaware of any musical connections in either the German or Irish sides of my family, it was a great joy to find that my cousin Johanna was a musician, and had recently retired after 67 years as organist at the village church. My organ prelude is dedicated to her.

For some reason (perhaps the repeated tread of the opening pedal notes), as I was working on the prelude, the opening of J. S. Bach’s Matthew Passion kept coming to mind. So in 2018, when Jeffrey Skidmore asked me to compose a short introduction to Bach’s work, I immediately thought of Sei gegrusset. However, rather than a motet, I decided on a simple treatment of the chorale, preceded by my organ prelude. This enabled me to feature the ‘Soprano in ripieno’ choir, which only appears twice in Bach’s score, thus giving the members of this choir a little more to do. The Soprano in ripieno part was sung by the children of the Ex Cathedra Academy, first in English, then joined by the adult choir in German. This version, combining organ prelude and chorale, has since opened all Ex Cathedra’s performances of the Matthew Passion. The Prelude and Chorale may, of course be performed separately. Alec Roth