Johann Friedrich Doles was the indirect successor of J.S. Bach as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. He must have been familiar with Bachs setting of Jesu, meine Freude BWV 227 when he wrote his Motet on this piece around 1775, since there are several stylistic parallels with its great precursor.

Typical for Doless chorale motet is the fifth strophe (see example) with its sleek and elegant alternation between solo and tutti sections, whereby the composer and Thomaskantor probably only had eight able singers for the tutti in Leipzig around 1780, as Doles himself laments.

The late 18th century was simply not the golden age of the Thomasschule! Doless motet fell into oblivion and was long held to be lost. This first edition supplements the publications from the late Baroque and early Classical eras (Graun, Bortnyansky a.o.) which were released in recent years in Breitkopfs “Choral Library”