Fantasia super "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend", KWV 524

Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-1780) is generally regarded as the pupil of Johann Sebastian Bach who came closest to his master in terms of his skills as an organist - but also in terms of his compositional style. In fact, some of Krebs' works have at times been mistaken for Bach's compositions and, in addition, quite a few of Krebs' pieces have been attributed to specific models in the Thomaskantor's oeuvre.

Both also apply to this little Fantasia super "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend", KWV 524, which was previously partly attributed to Bach and also shows many parallels to his chorale prelude on the same cantus firmus, BWV 655, from the collection of the "Eighteen Chorales":

Both pieces are in G major and in four-four time, both are worked as chorale trios in which the cantus firmus is only heard in the bass voice in the final formal section in each case, and both work with very similar main motifs in the upper voices, derived from the beginning of the chorale.

Despite all these similarities, however, the differences in form between Bach's and Krebs' compositions are unmistakable: while Bach repeats the opening theme in his chorale trio in the manner of a concerto movement, alternating with sequencing contrasting episodes on different pitches, Krebs' piece is much more loosely structured and thus justifies the title "Fantasia": Although he also returns to the main motivic idea from time to time, he always spins it out differently, whereby he also proves himself to be stylistically representative of a new era, as "empfindsame" ("sentimental") sigh-like suspensions, "galante" ("galant") fluttering triplets and trills as well as simple chord breaks abound in his piece.