List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

Some of the early biographies of Johann Sebastian Bach contain lists of his compositions. For instance, his obituary contains a list of the instrumental compositions printed during the composer's lifetime, followed by an approximate list of his unpublished work. The first separately published biography of the composer, by Johann Nikolaus Forkel, follows the same approach: its ninth chapter first lists printed works (adding four-part chorales which had been published in the second half of the 18th century), followed by a rough overview of the unpublished ones. In the first half of the 19th century more works were published, so the next biographies (Schauer and Hilgenfeldt in 1850) had more elaborate appendices listing printed works, referring to these works by publisher, and the number or page number given to the works in these publications. So, for example, the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major can be indicated as "C. F. Peters Vol. III No. 1", or any of the variants ("Griepenkerl and Roitzsch Vol. 3 p. 2", "Peters Book 242 p. 2", "P. S. V., Cah. 3 (242), No. 1", etc.) BG of The Well-Tempered Clavier book 1, in the BGA known as Vol. 14, p. 44, over eighty years before it was given the number 857 in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis In the 2nd half of the 19th century the Bach-Gesellschaft (BG) published all Bach's works in around 50 volumes, the so-called Bach Gesellschaft Ausgabe (BGA). Another consequence of the ordering principles of the BWV was that it split known collections apart; for instance, Clavier-Übung III was partly in the organ compositions range (BWV 552 and 669–689), with the four duets listed among the keyboard compositions (BWV 802–805). BWV Anh. The Anhang (Anh.), i.e. Appendix, of the BWV listed works that were not suitable for the main catalogue, in three sections: • I – lost works, or works of which only a tiny fraction had survived (Anh. 1–23) • II – works of dubious authenticity (Anh. 24–155) • III – works that were once attributed to Bach, but for which it had been established they were not composed by him (Anh. 156–189) Within each section of the Anhang the works are sorted by genre, following the same sequence of genres as the main catalogue. Schmieder published the BWV's second edition in 1990, with some modifications regarding authenticity discriminations, and more works added to the main catalogue and the Anhang. A strict numerical collation was abandoned to insert additions, or when for another reason compositions were regrouped. For example, BWV 11, formerly listed as a Cantata, was moved to the fourth chapter of the main catalogue as an Oratorio. Rather than renumbering a composition, an arrow indicated where the composition was inserted: "" meaning "BWV 11, inserted after BWV 249b" (4th chapter). Similarly, meant BWV 1083, inserted after BWV 243a (3rd chapter). Also, authenticity discriminations, based on new research, could lead to such repositionings within the catalogue; for example, "" became ", indicating it was now considered a spurious work. In 1998, Alfred Dürr and Yoshitake Kobayashi published a small edition of the catalogue, based on the 1990 second edition. This edition, known as BWV2a, contained a few further updates and collation rearrangements. New additions (Nachträge) to BWV2/BWV2a included: • BWV 1081–1126 • BWV Anh. 190–213 A few exceptions to the principle that compositions were not renumbered were when a composition from the Anhang could be recovered or authenticated as Bach's, so that it deserved a place in the main catalogue, in which case it was given a number above 1080. So, for example, BWV Anh. 205 (BWV2) → BWV 1121 (BWV2a, where it is in section 7 as a work for organ). Other renumberings and additional numbers involved alternative or earlier versions of basically the same composition, which were indicated by adding a lower case letter to the BWV number. Examples: • BWV 243a: 1723 E major version of the 1733 Magnificat in D major BWV 243 • BWV 1071 renumbered to BWV 1046a (early version of the first Brandenburg Concerto) • BWV Anh. 198 renumbered to BWV 149/1a (earlier abandoned version of the opening movement of Cantata BWV 149) Some versions were completely removed from the catalogue, e.g. BWV 655b and c. Slashes indicate movements: e.g. BWV 149/1 indicates the first movement of the Cantata BWV 149. Another example: the Agnus Dei of the Mass in B minor can be indicated as BWV 232/22 (22nd movement of the composition), or alternatively as BWV 232IV/4 (BWV 232, fourth movement of Part IV). 21st-century additions Numbers above BWV 1126 were added in the 21st century. Reconstructed versions An upper case R added to a BWV number indicates a reconstructed version, that is a conjectured earlier version of a known composition. One of such reconstructions, the Concerto for oboe and violin, as published in NBA VII/7 (Supplement) p. 75, based on the double harpsichord concerto BWV 1060, is known as BWV 1060R. BWV3 As of mid-2018 the Bach digital website started to implement the new numbers of the 3rd edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, which has been announced for publication in 2020. For example, the Leipzig version of the Christ lag in Todes Banden cantata used to be BWV 4 in previous versions of the catalogue, and, in BWV3, has become BWV 4.2. NBA illustrates its score editions with facsimiles from manuscripts or contemporary editions: for instance NBA Series IV Volume 4 (Clavier-Übung III) contains a facsimile of the title page of the 1739 first edition of that collection. In the meantime, the New Bach Edition (Neue Bach-Ausgabe, abbreviated as NBA) was being published, BC The Bach Compendium (BC), a catalogue covering Bach's vocal works was published in 1985. Occasionally works that have no BWV number can be identified by their BC number, e.g. BC C 8 for "Der Gerechte kömmt um" an arrangement attributed to Bach on stylistic grounds, but unmentioned in the BWV. BNB Bachs Notenbibliothek (BNB) is a list of works Bach had at his disposition. Works of other composers which were arranged by Bach or which he (had) copied for performance usually have a BNB number. SBB The Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin = SBB) holds an important collection of composition manuscripts relating to Bach. Some versions of works are best known by their principal manuscript in the SBB, for instance = , or according to the abbreviations used at the Bach-digital website [http://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002542 ]. By opus number, and chronological lists '', 1731), the only time he seems to have used an opus number Apart from indicating his first published keyboard composition as Opus 1, Bach did not use opus numbers. Lists following publication chronologies are for example implied in the first list in Bach's obituary, and BG numbers (within the BGA sequence of publication) – overall lists covering all of Bach's compositions in order of first publication are however not a way Bach's compositions are usually presented. Listing Bach's works according to their time of composition cannot be done comprehensively: for many works the period in which they were composed is a very wide range. For Bach's larger vocal works (cantatas, Passions,...) research has led to some more or less generally accepted chronologies, covering most of these works: a catalogue in this sense is Philippe (and Gérard) Zwang's list giving a chronological number to the cantatas BWV 1–215 and 248–249. This list was published in 1982 as Guide pratique des cantates de Bach in Paris, . A revised edition was published in 2005 (). Other composers Various catalogues with works by other composers have intersections with collections of works associated with Bach: ;BR-WFB (or) BR : Bach-Repertorium numbers for works by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, e.g. BWV 970 = BR A49 :Other BRs: :*BR-CPEB: works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (for this composer Helm or Wotquenne numbers are however more often used) :*BR-JCFB: works by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach ;Fk (or) F : Falck catalogue numbers for works by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, e.g. BWV 970 = F 25/2 ;H : Helm numbers for works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, e.g. BWV 1036 = H 569 ;HWV : Works by George Frideric Handel, e.g. BWV Anh. 106 = HWV 605 ;TWV : Compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann, e.g. BWV 824 = TWV 32:14 ;Warb (or) W : Warburton numbers for works by Johann Christian Bach, e.g. = W A22 (or: ) ;Wq : Wotquenne numbers for works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, e.g. BWV 1036 = Wq 145 ==Works in Bach's catalogues and collections==