… Shines the Morning Star.

A friend of mine called the German hymn Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern “the Queen of Chorales.” The hymn was written in the first century after the Protestant Reformation, and remains a staple of Lutheran hymnody to this day (well, sort of.) There’s something about the shape of the melody and the dance rhythms that make it stick.

I adore the cantata that Bach wrote which features this chorale. The spirit of joy is captured perfectly, and is found in every movement, even though the chorale itself is only found in the first and final choruses. The piece speaks for itself, so I’m going to sit back and let you listen:

side note: BWV is a catalog of Bach’s works. BWV 1 doesn’t mean it’s the first piece he wrote – in fact, he was middle-aged when he wrote it – it just happens to be the first piece listed in the catalog.