Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow (1663 - 1712) was born in Leipzig. He probably received his first musical training from his father, the piper Heinrich Zachow, one of Leipzig's town musicians in the Alta capella. In 1676 the family moved to Eilenburg. Here Zachow probably studied with town organist Johann Hildebrand. In 1684 Zachow became organist of the St. Marienkirche in Halle, a post he held until his death. He also conducted the city choir and town musicians and was required to perform cantats every third sunday of the month. His choral and organ pieces, often written for several voices, were dramatic and expressive. During his time at Halle he became particularly renowned as a composer of dramatic cantatas. In 1695 he was criticized by the pietists because of his excessive long and elaborate music, that could be only appreciated by cantors and organists.

Zachow was the teacher of Gottfried Kirchhoff, Johann Philipp Krieger and Johann Gotthilf Ziegler, but is best remembered as George Frideric Handel's first music teacher. He taught Händel how to play the violin, organ, harpsichord, and oboe as well as counterpoint. Zachow's teaching was so effective, that in 1702 at the age of seventeen, Händel accepted a position as organist at the former Dom in Halle. When Zachow died in 1713, J.S. Bach was invited as Zachow's successor.

Manuscript Mus ms 40037, owned by the Staatsbibliothek Berlin, contains over 40 choral preludes composed by Zachow or his pupil Kirchhof. Transcribing these preludes is a nice new project for the new year.

I'll start with the two preludes to "Christ lag in Todesbanden". In the manuscript only the first one is ascribed to Zachow. The second does not have an indication of a composer. It is therefore not certain whether this second piece was composed by Zachow, or indeed if it is a seperate composition and not a continuation of the preceding one. For now I'll treat both as seperate compositions.

The first prelude to "Christ lag in Todesbanden" is a beautiful flowing three part composition in triple meter. The choral melody is played in the soprano voice, whil the other two voices play an effective accompaniment.

Score: http://partitura.org/index.php/david-abel-praeludium-2

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