James Barnes

Chorale Prelude On A German Folk Tune

Commissioned by Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma and dedicated to the memory of the composer's friend Andrew Gurwitz. The work is based on the J.S. Bach Chorale 'Mein junges Leben hat ein End'. This old tune's tragic text, its melancholy nature, and its haunting simplicity provided the appropriate thematic nucleus with which to compose a work expressing the sorrow and sympathy, the anguish and frustration, and the ultimate realization that one of us suddenly left in the prime of his life.