Ich lasse dich nicht (BWV 1164)

Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn (I will not let you go unless you bless me), BWV 1164 (renumbered from BWV Anh. 159), is a motet for SATB double choir which was attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach when it was first published in 1802.

Around 1823 the motet was published as a composition by Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Sebastian’s father’s cousin, after which its attribution became a matter of discussion among scholars.

The motet consists of two movements: the oldest extant manuscript of its first movement was partly written by Johann Sebastian, in 1712, or early 1713 at the latest.

Its second movement is without doubt a chorale harmonisation by Johann Sebastian composed before c. 1735, when a version of this setting was copied in the Dietel manuscript, but it is uncertain when, and by whom, it was added to the first movement.

Here is the rendering by the Monteverdi Choir, conducted by the great John Eliot Gardiner.