Johann Georg Albinus wrote a number of Lutheran hymns set to music by various composers. Johann Sebastian Bach reworked and inserted some of these hymns into his cantatas, particularly the chorale “Alle Menschen müssen sterben” inBWV 162. Albinus Variations opens with a solemn cadenza followed by five contrasted variations on this chorale. Both versions of the chorale, in major and minor keys, were used as a reference for this work.