Aus der Tiefe ruf ich BWV 745

Text : Martin Luther 1524
Melody: Wolfgang Dachstein 1524

This upload is a request by monorganist, one of our concert hall members.
Thank you for asking: I hope you’ll like it.

Though this piece originally is known as BWV 745 and attributed to J.S. Bach, it now is commonly believed to be composed by C.P.E. Bach.

I played it from a restitution of P. Gouin (Edition Outremontaises 2015)
The editor states it is possibly intended for the harpsichord, considering the
writing.

The prelude is based on the 130th Psalm. As probably not many people on the concert hall are likely to speak German, here is the English text:

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love,and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Today is Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting, is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity.

According to the canonical gospels, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter.

Every Sunday was seen as a commemoration of the Sunday of Christ's resurrection and so as a feast day on which fasting was inappropriate. Accordingly, Christians fasted from Monday to Saturday (six days) during six weeks and from Wednesday to Saturday (four days) in the preceding week, thus making up the number of 40 days.

It seemed a fitting upload.
The score is in the attachment.