"To replace the unfinished portion of the last fugue, the work has for a supplement a four-part chorale, _Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein_, which Bach dedicated some days before his death to his son-in-law, Altnikol. I will not dwell on the art which he displays here, for the profound science of music had been so mastered by the author that he could exercise it even in illness; but the expression of pious resignation and devotion with which it overflows has touched me deeply every time I have played it; and I cannot say which I would rather do without, this chorale, or the ending of the fugue."[146] [Footnote 146: Forkel.] The text of this chorale was, moreover, singularly appropriate to Bach's condition when he composed it, viewed as a lament amid the terrors of death, or as a declaration of readiness to appear before the throne of that God whose aid he invoked at the head of his compositions.[147] [Footnote 147: At the commencement of his compositions he wrote the initials J.J. (_Jesu Juva_) or S.D.G. (_Soli Deo Gloria_).] This chorale has been called the "Swan-song." In completing this study we must mention the chorale-accompaniments which Bach wrote to sustain the singing of the congregation, which are found in a manuscript of Kittel (P. v, Appendix, Nos. 1, 3, 6, 7, and last) and in a copy by Forkel (P. vi, 26). They are quite different from those which he wrote in 1706, upon his return from Lübeck, and which so scandalized the parish, confusing the congregation by their ornamentation. REGISTRATION AND ORNAMENTS OF BACH'S ORGAN WORKS It is well known how important is the _rôle_ played in the execution of organ music by the registration, and the skilful combination of the keyboards. Bach left but few directions upon this subject; but with their aid, and the assistance of other hints derived from tradition or found in works of that period, and by placing before the reader the specifications of the principal organs which Bach may have had at his disposal during his long career, we will try to form an idea of what Forkel calls "the exquisite art with which he combined the various registers of the organ, and his manner of treating them."[148] [Footnote 148: _Ueber J.S. Bach's Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke._ Leipzig, 1802.]