Johann Tobias Krebs (7 July 1690 – 11 February 1762) was a German organist and composer, today best remembered as the father of Johann Ludwig Krebs, one of Bach's most accomplished pupils.
Krebs was born in Heichelheim and went to school in the nearby Weimar. Nothing is known about his early musical training, but at age 20 Krebs was proficient enough at the keyboard to be invited to become organist at Buttelstedt, another town in the same area. Krebs accepted, but continued his music studies in Weimar, travelling there twice a week to study with Johann Gottfried Walther, and later with Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1721 he was accepted a position at Buttstädt, where he played the organ of Michaeliskirche and taught at the school. Krebs remained in Buttstädt for the rest of his life. He had three sons, and the eldest, Johann Ludwig Krebs, became a well-known composer.
Krebs' surviving works are scarce. A few chorale preludes preserved in manuscripts show a marked fondness for counterpoint. Two of the lesser known pieces from the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis catalogue may have been composed by Krebs:
In addition, Johann Tobias Krebs and his eldest son are among the list of potential composers of the Eight Short Preludes and Fugues , BWV 553–560, once attributed to Bach.
The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2a, was published in 1998.
Nicolaus Bruhns was a Danish-German organist, violinist, and composer. He was one of the most prominent organists and composers of his generation.
The year 1714 in music involved some significant events.
The Neumeister Collection is a compilation of 82 chorale preludes found in a manuscript copy produced by Johann Gottfried Neumeister (1757–1840). When the manuscript was rediscovered at Yale University in the 1980s it appeared to contain 31 previously unknown early chorale settings by Johann Sebastian Bach, which were added to the BWV catalogue as Nos. 1090–1120, and published in 1985.
The Orgelbüchlein BWV 599−644 is a set of 46 chorale preludes for organ — one of them is given in two versions — by Johann Sebastian Bach. All but three were written between 1708 and 1717 when Bach served as organist to the ducal court in Weimar; the remainder and a short two-bar fragment came no earlier than 1726, after the composer’s appointment as cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig.
The Eight Short Preludes and Fugues, BWV 553–560, are a collection of works for keyboard and pedal formerly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. They are now believed to have been composed by one of Bach's pupils, possibly Johann Tobias Krebs or his son Johann Ludwig Krebs, or by the Bohemian composer Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer.
Chorale fantasia is a type of large composition based on a chorale melody, both works for organ, and vocal settings, for example the opening movements of Bach's chorale cantatas, with the chorale melody as a cantus firmus.
Erdmann Neumeister was a German Lutheran pastor and hymnologist.
Andreas Nicolaus Vetter was a German organist and composer.
Christian Friedrich Witt, or Witte was a German composer, music editor and teacher.
The Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, BWV 651–668, are a set of chorale preludes for organ prepared by Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig in his final decade (1740–1750), from earlier works composed in Weimar, where he was court organist. The works form an encyclopedic collection of large-scale chorale preludes, in a variety of styles harking back to the previous century, that Bach gradually perfected during his career. Together with the Orgelbüchlein, the Schübler Chorales, the third book of the Clavier-Übung and the Canonic Variations, they represent the summit of Bach's sacred music for solo organ.
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Schwingt freudig euch empor, BWV 36, in Leipzig in 1731 for the first Sunday in Advent. He drew on material from previous congratulatory cantatas, beginning with Schwingt freudig euch empor, BWV 36c (1725). The Gospel for the Sunday was the Entry into Jerusalem, thus the mood of the secular work matched "the people's jubilant shouts of Hosanna". In a unique structure in Bach's cantatas, he interpolated four movements derived from the former works with four stanzas from two important Advent hymns, to add liturgical focus, three from Luther's "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" and one from Nicolai's "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern". He first performed the cantata in its final form of two parts, eight movements, on 2 December 1731.
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, in Weimar for the first Sunday in Advent, the Sunday which begins the liturgical year, and first performed it on 2 December 1714.
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 62, in Leipzig for the first Sunday in Advent and first performed it on 3 December 1724. The chorale cantata is based on Martin Luther's Advent hymn "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland". It is part of his chorale cantata cycle.
"Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" is a Lutheran hymn for Advent by Martin Luther, the translation of a Latin hymn.
"Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern" is a Lutheran hymn by Philipp Nicolai written in 1597 and first published in 1599. It inspired musical settings through centuries, notably Bach's chorale cantata Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1, but also vocal and instrumental works by Baroque composers, Peter Cornelius, Felix Mendelssohn, Max Reger, Hugo Distler, Ernst Pepping, Mauricio Kagel and Naji Hakim.
"Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" is a Lutheran chorale of 1524 with words written by Martin Luther, based on "Veni redemptor gentium" by Ambrose, and a melody, Zahn 1174, based on its plainchant. It was printed in the Erfurt Enchiridion of 1524.
Daniel Vetter was an organist and composer of the German Baroque era.