Johann Gottfried Neumeister (1757—1840) never met Bach, but became a member of an organization the composer had joined in 1747. Neumeister had also become an admirer of his music and began assembling manuscripts by various composers in the 1790s, including 38 by Bach. The Neumeister Collection, as it became known, passed hands several times and wound up at the Yale Library, where it was discovered in 1985 by organist Christoph Wolff. This work, "O Herre Gott, dein göttlich's Wort" (O Lord God, Thy Holy Word), is one of the unearthed Neumeister chorale preludes by Bach. It is a chipper piece that exhibits the influence of Buxtehude and Pachelbel and thus probably dates to the earliest years of the time span stated in the headnote. The work opens with a faster variant of the chorale theme played in the middle register. This energetic line then moves to the upper register, where it is joined by the chorale theme and played more slowly and grandly in the middle ranges. The theme then rises and grows brighter, in the second half receiving a less-contrapuntal and more repetitive—though still vital—accompaniment. This brilliant work typically has a duration of just over two minutes.

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