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The chorale 'An Wasserflüssen Babylon', performed by Leo van Doeselaar for All of Bach, describes the desperate situation of the Israelites in exile. Many composers in the seventeenth century made an arrangement of it, with the Hamburg organist Adam Reincken as the absolute champion. As a fifteen-year-old, Bach copied this version down and undoubtedly studied it well. But when he made his own arrangement ten years later, he did not follow Reincken’s example. Instead of an ingenious but somewhat frivolous fantasy, as Reincken made, he chose to create a compact, sombre chorale prelude. Recorded for the project All of Bach on October 8th 2013 at St Martin's Church, Groningen. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel and consider donating For the interview with organist Leo van Doeselaar on 'An Wasserflüssen Babylon' go to For more information
