The Easter hymn, “Jesus, meine Zuversicht,” attributed to Luise Henriette Electress of Brandenburg, was published, set to Johann Crüger's (?) melody, in Christoph Runge’s Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen (Berlin, 1653) . A reconstruction of the melody (supra) appeared in the Berlin Praxis pietatis melica of the same year. The melody was attributed posthumously to J. Crüger, though possibly only the reconstruction is by him. J.S. Bach uses the Praxis version invariably, in Cantata BWV 145 (1729-1730), Choralgesange, No. 208 (BWV 365), and the movement infra. Invariably he substitutes G for A as the third note of the second bar of the melody (supra), an innovation found in Freylinghausen (1704). J.S. Bach’s treatment of the first bar of the second part of the tune (line 2, bar 1 supra) varies. Only in the Organ movement does he follow J. Crüger’s version. As his other readings differ in that passage, they may perhaps be regarded as his own. Witt (No. 712) sets the hymn to another tune.
Source: Charles Sanford Terry: Bach’s Chorals, vol. 3 The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the Organ Works (Cambridge University Press, 1921), pp 215-216 |