Komm, Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist, BWV 667

‘Come, God the Creator, Holy Ghost, visit the hearts of your mankind’, is the opening to Luther’s interpretation of the ninth-century hymn Veni creator spiritus. A true classic for Whitsuntide, which turns up in various places in Bach’s oeuvre, including the Orgelbüchlein (1713-16), which provided beginner church musicians with inspiration for the whole liturgical year. Years later, when Bach was preparing a new set of chorale preludes, called the Leipziger Choräle, he harked back to that early version of Komm, Gott (BWV 631). Even more strikingly, this chorale arrangement revives the earlier work in its entirety, and then proceeds to take it in a new direction, almost like a variation.

The principle is simple enough: the upper part plays the chorale (almost literally the old Gregorian melody), two middle parts fill in with plenty of runs and figures with leaps, and the foundation is provided by an independent bass. In the first movement, this latter voice keeps entering on the third beat, giving a curious effect whereby it could be heard as the third part of the Trinity: the Holy Ghost. From the closing note of the original chorale prelude, however, Bach begins to weave an inventive texture. One upper part becomes two and the atmosphere becomes fiery. Following a pedal point, the chorale returns, now in the bass, while the other parts jubilantly seek out new harmonies. Right before the ending, very attentive listeners will briefly hear the B-A-C-H motif (the notes B-flat, A, C and B in German ‘spelling’) in the alto; a logical consequence of the minor/major feeling surrounding the second chorale appearance.

BWV 667 even became a classic in its own right. Busoni, for example, arranged the piece for keyboard, while Schönberg used a complete orchestra, including percussion, which presents the ‘limping’ bass of the opening with exceptional clarity.
(Source: All of Bach)