Letter Codes Relating to Pitch and Key for Chorale Melodies and Bach's Contributions to the Schemelli "Gesangbuch"

Text-only hymnals are frequently overlooked by musicologists because it is thought that they contain very little of musical interest. However, this is not very different from assuming that opera libretti have little musical significance because they deal only with words, plots, and narratives. These anthologies of congregational song may be comprised entirely of words, but they are thoughts and emotions expressed in rhymes, rhythms, and meters that have particular musical implications. This paper examines some of the ways in which musical matters are addressed in text-only German hymnals, especially the phenomenon of indicating pitch and key by letter codes, and Bach's knowledge and use of such coding in the Schemelli "Gesangbuch."