Sop solo, opt alto, ten & bass soli, SATB choir. Vocal score Composer: 1685-1750.

PP324 ISMN 979-0-57016-425-7 Score and parts
PP324V ISMN 979-0-57016-426-4 Vocal score

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 and died in 1750. The details of his life and career are well documented, and his extensive and talented family continued the musical tradition into the next generation. During his professional career, Bach was organist in Arnstadt and later at the Weimar court, and Kapellmeister to the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. But it was while in Leipzig as Cantor of St Thomas', that he produced most of his best-known church music. He was in Leipzig from 1723 until his death, producing a steady stream of cantatas for the church services, over two hundred in total. He also wrote motets, the Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio and the Passions, according to St John and St Matthew.

Bach's Cantata No. 150, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, includes an aria for soprano solo, and another for a trio of alto, tenor and bass soli, which could, if preferred, be sung by the choir. The Cantata exists in an edition published by Breitkopf and Härtel. When one tries to perform it, however, difficulties arise as the bassoon part includes low As which are below the range of the instrument. The pitches of instruments in Bach's day and their inter-relationships may well differ from the more modern interpretation represented by the Breitkopf edition. In the interests of having a performing edition, C.M.M. Nex and F.H. Nex have transposed the Cantata into C minor and edited and set the music using the earlier publication as their starting point