Jesu, Joy of a Man's Desiring - Free Sheet Music

Much of the music of Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben comes from Bach's Weimar period. This earlier version (BWV 147a) lacked the recitatives, but included the opening chorus and the four arias incorporated into the later version. For Leipzig, Bach added three recitatives and the celebrated chorale movement which concludes each of the two parts.

Although it is the 32nd surviving cantata that Bach composed, it was assigned the number BWV 147 in the complete catalogue of his works. Bach wrote a total of 200 cantatas during his time in Leipzig, largely to meet the Leipzig Churches' demand for about 58 different cantatas each year.

Contrary to the common assumption, the violinist and composer Johann Schop, not Bach, composed the movement's underlying chorale melody, Werde munter, mein Gemüthe; Bach's contribution was to harmonize and orchestrate it. The frequent use of arrangements of the piece in modern weddings is in no way related to its scope or Bach's intent for it. Rather, it was one segment of an extended, approximately 20-minute treatment of a traditional Church hymn, as is typical of cantatas of the Baroque period.

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