Boyd chorale exercise 12 in 3/4

The is the tune from Bach ‘O Herzenasangst’; Riemenschneider No 173

My harmonisation attempt adding A, T, B in open score:

boyd-chorale-exercise-12-riemenschneider-173-o-herzensangst-as-worked-a-full-score

As a WAV file generated by Sibelius:

Looking now at the Bach original, he harmonises the ‘-angst’ in a way I would not have guessed, as the third inversion of a dominant seventh, resolving upwards with a jump upwards of a major seventh in the bass line!

Bach’s score

boyd-chorale-exercise-12-riemenschneider-173-o-herzensangst-as-written-by-bach-full-score

WAV file of Bach harmonisation

Bach chorale harmonisation with high trumpet descant

Ths is Boyd exercise 7, Riemenscheider 24 ‘Valet will ich dir geben’, a Palm Sunday hymn.

 

Bach set this in quite a minor way as a Pietist ‘leavetaking’ but I decided to go back to the original words which translate to ‘Glory, Laud and Honour’ (St Theodulph, 820AD).

This has a very high trumpet part which provisionally I would allocate to a piccolo trumpet in A (not sure yet about the lowest notes as this instrument may need or have an extra valve to extend its range)

Score:

boyd-chorale-exercises-7-bach-24-with-added-trumpet-as-worked-a-full-score

WAV file generated from Sibelius

Look out for the German sixth in bar 6!

 

 

Bach chorale exercise Boyd No 6, Riemenschneider 182 War’ Gott nich mit uns diese Zeit

Completed from the treble line alone:

PDF file

boyd-chorale-exercises-6-bach-182-war-gott-nicht-mit-uns-diese-zeit-as-worked-c-full-score

WAV file generated by Sibelius

This chorale has an unusually narrow range of pitch and moves in steps not leaps so I found avoiding parallels harder than usual, and changed key more often than previously to try and keep up the harmonic interest.

Bach’s original:

Interesting diminished 4th leap in the tenor in bar 6

PDF file

boyd-chorale-exercises-6-bach-182-war-gott-nicht-mit-uns-diese-zeit-as-written-full-score

WAV file

 

Further Bach chorale exercise worked and compared to original

Riemenscheider 129, Keinen hat Gott verlassen worked from the soprano part alone:

I found this resource for A level and first year university students very helpful and this time wrote  modulations and main cadences first:

http://www.choraleguide.com/

Boyd chorale exercise 5; my attempt

Score

boyd-chorale-exercises-5-bach-129-keinen-hat-gott-verlassen-as-worked-full-score

WAV audio file generated by Sibelius

 

Mine version has too many false relations but is I hope ‘singable’.  The final Tierce de Picardie is the one modification I put in after seeing the original BAch’ I’d forgotten about that option!

Bach original:

score

boyd-chorale-exercises-5-bach-129-keinen-hat-gott-verlassen-as-written-full-score

WAV audio file

Another Bach chorale harmonised this time in competition with a computer

Wer nur den lieben Gott laesst walten

Riemenschnieder 62

My working based on just the soprano line:

PDF file

wer-nur-den-lieben-gott-last-walten-melody-atc-attempt-2a-full-score

WAV file generated by Sibelius

This compares with a recent ‘DeepBach’ machine harmonisation given in the paper:

Click to access 1612.01010v1.pdf

and a different, better example from the same tool in this video:

 

The DeepBach tool does not check for parallels but is quite impressive.

 

Boyd Bach chorale composition exercise 2, Herr Jesu Christ du hochstes Gut (Reimenschneider 266)

As set (this time using short score):

boyd-chorale-exercises-2-bach-266-herr-jesu-christ-as-set-full-score

As attempted, not idomatic and with octave parallels weakly avoided by suspensions

boyd-chorale-exercises-2-bach-266-herr-jesu-christ-as-worked-provisionally-full-score

Last note for alto should probably be B flat to supply a third to the tonic chord

As written by Bach but note crossings twice of tenor and supplied bassparts!

boyd-chorale-exercises-2-bach-266-herr-jesu-christ-as-written-mutated-full-score

 

 

Boyd Bach chorale completion exercise 1

The first of a set of 25 chorale completion exercises.

The chord notation is just Sibelius trying to work out crotchet by crotchet what the harmony is, not always successfully with passing notes present

As set:

Boyd Chorale Exercises 1 Reimenschneider 9 Ermuntre dich as set – Full Score

As worked (score and audio)

Boyd Chorale Exercises 1 Bach 9 Ermuntre dich workedsib – Full Score

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As written by J S Bach (score and audio)

 

Boyd Chorale Exercises 1 Bach 9 Ermuntre dich as written mutated – Full Score