MAC No. 17: Den die Hirten lobeten sehre

Born in Leipzig in 1907, Walcha was blinded at age 19 after vaccination for smallpox. Despite his disability, he entered the Leipzig Conservatory and became an assistant to Günther Ramin at the Thomaskirche, who was professor of organ at the conservatory and cantor at St. Thomas'. In 1929, Walcha accepted a position in Frankfurt am Main at the Friedenskirche. From 1933 to 1938, he taught at the Hoch Conservatory. In 1938, he was appointed professor of organ at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt and organist of the Dreikönigskirche in 1946. He retired from public performance in 1981 and died in 1991.

Walcha recorded Bach's complete works twice, once in mono (1947–52), and again in stereo from 1956-71. He published four volumes of chorale preludes.

According to Wikipedia, Walcha taught many significant American organists of the twentieth century who travelled to Germany as Fulbright scholars: these include Robert Anderson, David Boe, Margaret Leupold Dickinson, Melvin Dickinson, Delbert Disselhorst, Betty Louise Lumby, Paul Jordan, David Mulbury, Fenner Douglass, Jane Douglass, Grigg and Helen Fountain, Barbara Harbach, Charles Krigbaum, J. Reilly Lewis, George Ritchie, Russell Saunders - all of whom became major teachers and performers.

Published by Edition Peters in “Walcha, Choralvorspiele“, Vol. 1