Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225 Johann Sebastian Bach

Netherlands Chamber Choir Peter Dijkstra, conductor “A complete orchestra should be added to this”, wrote Mozart on his copy of Bach’s motet 'Singet dem Herrn', performed here by the Netherlands Bach Society for All of Bach. He was very enthusiastic about the piece, which was performed as a surprise when he visited the Thomasschule in Leipzig, in 1789. At his request, Mozart was given a copy of it. In his account of the event ten years later, Johann Friedrich Rochlitz says that Mozart even shouted “Now there’s something you can learn from! Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing unto the Lord a new song), BWV 225, is a motet by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first performed in Leipzig around (probably) 1727. The text of the three-movement motet is in German: after Psalm 149 for its first movement (Psalms 149:1–3), the third stanza of "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren" (a 1530 hymn after Psalm 103 by Johann Gramann) for the second movement, and after Psalm 150:2 and 6 for its third movement Psalms 150:2,6. The final four-part fugue is titled "Alles was Odem hat" ("All that have a voice, praise the Lord!"). The motet is written for a double choir (eight voices divided into two four-part choirs). Robert Marshall writes that it is "certain" that this motet was one heard by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when he visited Leipzig's Thomasschule in 1789. Johann Friedrich Rochlitz, who graduated from the Thomasschule and remained in Leipzig to study theology in 1789, reported ten years later that Johann Friedrich Doles (a student of Bach, who through 1789 was cantor of the Thomasschule and director of the Thomanerchor) "surprised Mozart with a performance of the double-choir motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied by Sebastian Bach. Rochlitz reports that Mozart requested a copy, and "valued it very highly..." The motet was included in the first edition of Bach motets, printed by Breitkopf & Härtel in two volumes in 1802/1803. The editor of both volumes is believed to have been Johann Gottfried Schicht, Thomaskantor from 1810. “A complete orchestra should be added to this”, wrote Mozart on his copy of Bach's motet Singet dem Herrn. He was very enthusiastic about the piece. The original parts (20 pages) are displayed at the end of this video. #SingetdemHerrn #Bach