Description

Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring is the popular English title of the chorale from the 1723 Advent cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life), BWV 147. This arrangement for guitar quartet follows Bach’s original orchestration as far as possible so the choral sections co-exist with the string parts and basso continuo. It does involve a certain amount of reduction in the original voicings but has retained the cross rhythms in the choral section and bass. Few arrangements, outside of the original, retain all the choral sections and I have preserved as much of the orchestral counterpoint as possible. It makes this arrangement quite complex to perform but very definitely worth it. The 2^nd guitar and 1^st guitar do cross over each other but that is in Bach’s original writing and I have not changed it.