(click stop in between replays) Play Range
swing | tempo: 120 bmp | loop (when running click 'stop').
J.S. Bach's chorales have been used for centuries as models for contrapuntal writing techniques. This page is devoted to making the chorales accessible for study. The chorales are transcribed from "Johann Sebastian Bach - 371 Four-Part Chorales" Breiktkopf & Hartel Edition published by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. New York. (purchased sometime in the 60's for $2.50, best value ever!).
Select a chorale from the menu above. The selected chorale can be played using the Play button. For more detailed study each phrase of that chorale (from one fermata to the next) can be played separately using the Play Phrase button.
A lilypond score in text form is generated for each chorale (scroll to the bottom) and it can be copied and pasted into the lilypond software to create a standard notation score in pdf. Lilypond is free music notation software. It can be found at the lilypond website. In addition to creating your own lilypond score, some of the chorale scores are available from the following links: BachChorales_1-20.pdf BachChorales_21-40.pdf BachChorales_41-60.pdf BachChorales_61-80.pdf BachChorales_81-100.pdf
Search by key: c major f major b-flat major g major d major a major e-flat major e major aes major a minor d minor e minor b minor g minor c minor f-sharp minor Search by Time Signature: 3/4 4/4 3/2 Search by Pickup: no pickup Quarter note pickup Half note pickup
Search for Motif Enter search phrase in lilypond format: additional searches melody from soprano melody from soprano repeated notes in alto and tenor common inner voice at cadence in tenor common bassline at cadence common bassline Search: Soprano | Alto | Tenor | Bass The search phrase is translated into an interval formula of half steps and all of the chorales are searched for that sequence of intervals in any key. In the phrase search results, the number after the chorale number indicates the location of the note in the melody where the match was found (zero indexed).
Analyze this Chorale: Melodic analysis of this voice: Soprano | Alto | Tenor | Bass 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 number of notes in phrase search Eighth note Quarter note chord analysis (alpha version) The chords are added to the lilypond file (below).
Full lilypond score output: Paste this code into lilypond to view the music notation. See instructions here
Guitar Duet lilypond score output:
Single Phrase lilypond score output: