Bach: Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn, BWV 1146 (Anh. 159)

Description

The motet Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn was included in the first edition of the six motets of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1802, No. 03 and was only later replaced, firstly by the motet Lob and Ehre and Weisheit by Georg Gottfried Wagner, wrongly attributed to Bach (Carus 35.013), and then finally by Lobet den Herrn alle Heiden BWV 230. Ich lasse dich nicht had been attributed to Johann Christoph Bach (1642–1703) in 1823 – presumably on the basis of pure speculation because the motet differs so clearly from Johann Sebastian Bach's Leipzig motets. Unfortunately the composer's name is missing from the oldest manuscript, but the beginning and end of the motet were written out by J. S. Bach himself, and the rest by a Weimar pupil of his. Stylistically, the motet is not very different from Fürchte dich nicht BWV 228 and it is now generally regarded as being by Johann Sebastian Bach; in the new BWV catalog it has the number 1164.