Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

I think this is a very rare setting of the well-known Advent chorale!

Gottfried August Homilius (1714-1785) was a pupil of J, S, Bach, In addition to his musical studies, he also studied law at Leipzig University.

In 1742 he became Organist of the Frauenkirche in Dresden, which had a new. Silbermann organ, In 1755 he was named cantor of the Kreuzkirche in Dresden, a position he remained at until his death,

Wachet auf is the 5th in a set of 8 chorale preludes, published by Harmonia in the Incognita Organo series.

It features a canon at the double octave between the soprano and bass voices, with a jaunty, dotted rhythm accompaniment, which persists throughout the piece,

I used two reeds for the cantus melodies - the 4' Schalmey (plus 2' Oktav), played an octave lower, and the Pedal 16' Dulcian (plus 8' Octav). For the obligato figuration, I used the 16' Quintadena, the 8' Gedeckt, the 4' Rohrflot, and the Nasat 3' of the Oberwerk.

It makes for a neat "antique" sound! ;-)