The “Little Organ Book”, perhaps the most celebrated collection ever of chorale preludes, owes its title to J.S. Bach’s application for the post of Cantor at St Thomas’ Church in Leipzig. Lacking an academic degree, Bach wanted to demonstrate his qualifications as a teacher through his compositions – including his Inventions, Sinfonias and the “Well Tempered Klavier”. This also led him to append a misleading title to the most ambitious project of his time at Weimar: he called this collection of ...