Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren, originally BWV 231, later renumbered to BWV 28/2a, is the second movement of the motet Jauchzet dem Herrn alle Welt, presented as a separate motet.Although some scholars have expressed doubts about the attribution to Bach, the work is generally regarded as a surviving motet by Bach. Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden (Praise the Lord, all ye heathen), BWV 230, is a motet in C major scored for four voices, which draws its text from Psalm 117: 1–2.Komm, Jesu, komm (Come, Jesus, come), BWV 229, is a motet in G minor composed in Leipzig, which received its first performance by 1731–1732.It has been compared to another motet for double choir, Ich lasse dich nicht, BWV Anh. Traditionally, scholars believed that Bach composed it in Leipzig in 1726, while more recent scholarship suggests for stylistic reasons that it was composed during Bach's Weimar period. The work in two movements draws its text from the Book of Isaiah and a hymn by Paul Gerhardt.

Fürchte dich nicht (Do not fear), BWV 228, is a motet in A major for a funeral, set for double chorus and unspecified instruments playing colla parte.The German text is by Johann Franck, and dates from c. The chorale melody on which several movements are based was by Johann Crüger (1653). The stanzas of the chorale are interspersed with passages from the Epistle to the Romans. It takes its title from the hymn ' Jesu, meine Freude' by Johann Franck on which it is based. It has been suggested that it was composed in 1723 for the funeral of Johanna Maria Käsin, the wife of the Leipzig postmaster. Jesu, meine Freude (Jesus, my joy), BWV 227, is a motet in E minor for five vocal parts.The text is taken from the Epistle to the Romans ( Romans 8:26–27) and Martin Luther's third stanza to the hymn ' Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott' (1524). Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf (The Spirit gives aid to our weakness), BWV 226, a motet in B-flat major scored for two four-part choirs, was performed in Leipzig in 1729 for the funeral of Johann Heinrich Ernesti.This motet uses Psalm 149:1–3 for its first movement, the third stanza of ' Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren' (a 1530 hymn after Psalm 103 by Johann Gramann) for the second movement, and Psalm 150:2 and 6 for its third movement.

Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing unto the Lord a new song), BWV 225, is a motet in B-flat major scored for two four-part choirs ( SATB) which was first performed in Leipzig around 1727.

159, 229, 227, 226) were among Bach's first printed music, after the second half of the 18th century when the only vocal music by Bach that was printed were collections of his four-part chorales. In the early 19th century, six motets (BWV 225, 228, Anh. īach's motets are his only vocal works that stayed in the canon without interruption between his death in 1750 and the 19th-century Bach Revival. Bach's biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel suggested that the choral writing would have been useful for training Bach's young singers, and Christoph Wolff has argued that this could apply in particular to Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied. Another possible use is a pedagogical one. 160 (whether or not the piece is attributable to Bach) suggests a performance at Christmas. The text of Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt, BWV Anh. There is some uncertainty as to the extent that motets would have been called for in normal church services-there is evidence that the form was considered archaic. Several of the motets were written for funerals. Bach, and if so was probably composed during his Weimar period.īWV 228 is another motet which appears to have been written at Weimar, between 17, the others having been composed in Leipzig. 159, which was formerly attributed to Bach's older cousin Johann Christoph Bach, appears to be at least partly by J.S. A seventh motet, Ich lasse dich nicht, BWV Anh.

There is a case for regarding the six motets catalogued BWV 225–230 as being authenticated, although there is some doubt about one of them, Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden. It is uncertain how many motets Johann Sebastian Bach composed, because some have been lost, and there are some doubtful attributions among the surviving ones associated with him.

Bach compositions meanings