Chorale prelude

Autograph manuscript of the chorale prelude Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 739, 1705

In music, a chorale prelude or chorale setting is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque era and reached its culmination in the works of J.S. Bach, who wrote 46 (with a 47th unfinished) examples of the form in his Orgelbüchlein,[1] along with multiple other works of the type in other collections.

  1. ^ Grout, Donald J. & Claude V. Palisca, A History of the Western Music 7th edition, Norton, London, 2006. ISBN 978-0-393-97527-7