An adagio setting, BWV611 is striking as for the first time in the collection the chorale is not at the top of the texture, but in the alto. From the initial wide-spacing of the unison Ds, the setting is noteworthy for the intricacy of writing weaved around the melody. The motifs are built on semiquavers; note the pedal syncopations throughout; which bleed into the other lines; and the suspirans figure, with its initial rest, heard first in the soprano at the start. the text is a hymn for Christmas, written by Luther after a Latin original. Williams catalogues the history of allegorical interpretation that this setting has invited: for example, the alto cantus representing the baby Jesus in the womb; the ‘ends of the earth’ (in verse 1 of the hymn) symbolised by bar 5’s four-octave span from C-c’’’ (Williams 2003 p.259).

from notes by George Parsons © 2019