Lutheran chorale

A chorale was originally a hymn of the Lutheran church sung by the entire congregation. In casual modern usage, the term also includes classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character.

Chorales tend to have simple and singable tunes, because they were intended to be sung by the congregation rather than a professional choir. They generally have rhyming words and are in a strophic form (with the same melody being used for different verses). Some chorale melodies were written by Martin Luther himself.

Many of the best-known hymns in Protestant churches today were originally Lutheran chorales. In many cases, the familiar version is a setting of the chorale by J. S. Bach.

Many chorale melodies are derived from Gregorian Chant, sometimes with minor variation, and fitted with new words. A good example is the famous chorale used by Johann Sebastian Bach in his Cantata No. 4, Christ lag in Todesbanden, which uses the same tune, with different words, as the Roman Catholic Easter Sequence Victimae Paschali Laudes.

Although chorale tunes were originally sung monophonically, several composers arranged and harmonised tunes. Johann Sebastian Bach harmonised many chorales for four-part choir; Bach's chorales were used as congregational hymns, interspersed in his cantatas, passions and other works. Bach's harmonisations are so well known that his name is virtually synonymous with the chorale in classical music circles, even though he did not write any original chorale tunes himself.

Another use of chorale tunes in classical music is in the chorale prelude, a piece generally for organ designed to be played before a chorale. A chorale prelude includes the melody of the chorale, and adds other contrapuntal lines. One of the first composers to write chorale preludes was Dietrich Buxtehude. Bach's many chorale preludes are the best-known examples of the form. Later composers of the choral prelude include Johannes Brahms and Max Reger.

Chorales have been the subject of many different musical treatments, most but not all from the German Baroque. See chorale setting for a description and a list of all the different types of musical setting and transformation that this important liturgical form has undergone.

"Chorale" can also be used as an alternate term for choir—a group of singing voices.

References and further reading

• "Chorale", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1561591742
• The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, ed. Don Randel. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1986. ISBN 0674615255

External links

• Chorale at the Classical Music Pages
• Chorale discussion by Bernard Greenberg in the J. S. Bach FAQ (archived copy)
• Complete sets of all four-part Bach chorale settings in MIDI or QuickTime format