Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225

{{Short description|Motet by Johann Sebastian Bach}} {{distinguish|Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190}} {{Infobox Bach composition | title = {{lang|de|Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied}} | bwv = 225 | type = Motet | image = Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied.JPEG | image_upright = 1.3 | caption = Manuscript of the beginning | key = | occasion = | composed = c. 1727 | published = {{start date|1802}} | bible = {{plainlist| * {{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Psalms|chapter=149|verse=1|range=–3}} * {{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Psalms|chapter=150|verse=2|range=,6}} }} | chorale = "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren" by Johann Gramann | movements = 3 | vocal = 2 choirs {{abbr|SATB|soprano, alto, tenor and bass}} | instrumental = }} '''''Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied''''' (''Sing unto the Lord a new song''), '''BWV 225''', is a motet by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first performed in Leipzig around (probably) 1727. The text of the three-movement motet is in German: after Psalm 149 for its first movement ({{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Psalms|chapter=149|verse=1|range=–3}}), the third stanza of "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren" (a 1530 hymn after Psalm 103 by Johann Gramann) for the second movement, and after Psalm 150:2 and 6 for its third movement {{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Psalms|chapter=150|verse=2|range=,6}}.<ref>BWV<sup>2a</sup>: Alfred Dürr, Yoshitake Kobayashi (eds.), Kirsten Beißwenger. ''Bach Werke Verzeichnis: Kleine Ausgabe, nach der von Wolfgang Schmieder vorgelegten 2. Ausgabe''. Preface in English and German. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1998. {{ISBN|978-3765102493}}, p. 228</ref>

The motet is described as being for double-choir (in other words eight voices divided into two four-part choirs). It may have been composed to provide choral exercises for Bach's students at the Thomasschule. The motet's biblical text would have been suited to that purpose.<ref>Wolff, Christoph. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=YtJVFiHnepcC&pg=PA249 Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician]'', p. 249 (W. W. Norton & Company 2001).</ref> The final four-part fugue is titled "Alles was Odem hat" ("All that have voice, praise the Lord!").<ref>Kenyon, Nicholas. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=x1fm8XWwvJkC&pg=PA192 The Faber Pocket Guide to Bach]'', p. 192 (Faber & Faber 2011).</ref>

Robert Marshall writes that it is "certain" that this motet was one heard by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when he visited Leipzig's Thomasschule in 1789. Johann Friedrich Rochlitz, who graduated from the Thomasschule and remained in Leipzig to study theology in 1789, reported ten years later that Johann Friedrich Doles (a student of Bach, who through 1789 was cantor of the Thomasschule and director of the Thomanerchor) "surprised Mozart with a performance of the double-choir motet ''Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied'' by Sebastian Bach... he was told that the school possessed a complete collection of his motets and preserved them as a sort of sacred relic. 'That's the spirit! That's fine!' [Mozart] cried. 'Let's see them!' There was, however, no score... so he had the parts given to him, and ... sat himself down with the parts all around him." Rochlitz also reports that Mozart requested a copy, and "valued it very highly..."<ref>Rochlitz, Johann Friedrich, in the Allgemeine Muiskalische Zeitung, 1799, p. 117, translation from Robert C. Marshall, "Bach and Mozart's Artistic Maturity," pp. 69-17, in ''Bach Perspectives 3: Creative Response to the Music of J. S. Bach from Mozart to Hindemith'', edited Michael Marissen, University of Nebraska Press, 1998, {{ISBN|0-8032-1048-5}}</ref> {{Listen|type=music |filename=Alles was Odem hat1928.oga |title=Alles was Odem hat |description=}}

==Publication== The motet was included in the first edition of Bach motets, printed by Breitkopf & Härtel in two volumes in 1802/1803. The editor of both volumes is believed to have been Johann Gottfried Schicht, ''Thomaskantor'' from 1810.

==References== <references />

== External links == * [http://allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-225/ Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225]: performance by the Netherlands Bach Society (video and background information) *[http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV225-231.htm Information on the work on www.bach-cantatas.com] *{{IMSLP2|work=Singet_dem_Herrn_ein_neues_Lied,_BWV_225_%28Bach,_Johann_Sebastian%29|cname=Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied}} *[http://www.emmanuelmusic.org/notes_translations/translations_motets/t_bwv225.htm English and German texts] at Emmanuel Music

Category:Motets by Johann Sebastian Bach Category:1727 compositions Category:Psalm-related compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach