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User:Gerda Arendt/Ein feste Burg

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"Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott"
Hymn by Martin Luther
Text and melody in Johann Spangenberg's Gesangbuch, Magdeburg, 1545
Textby Martin Luther
LanguageGerman
Based onPsalm 46
Published1529 (1529)?

"Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" is a German hymn written by the Reformer Martin Luther, probably before 1529. The melody is also attributed to him. The song became of great symbolic value for Lutheranism. A paraphrase of Psalm 46, it is included in many Protestant hymnals, including the current Protestant German hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch (EG 362), also in translations such as "A mighty fortress is our God".

It was also used as a battle song for other movements, such as the peasants' wars, national movements of the 19th century and in World War I. Composers have written instrumental and vocal settings for church use, but also quoted it in other context, such as Mendelssohn in his Reformation Symphony, Meyerbeer in a dramatic function in his opera Les Huguenots, and Reger as the climax of Der 100. Psalm, when it is played by brass as a cantus firmus in the final double fugue.

History edit

Luther's text is a free paraphrase of Psalm 46. The occasion that made him write the hymn, possibly around 1528, is unknown.[1][2] Historians differ about the precise origin of the hymn, assuming a range between 1521 and 1530.[3] One historian offers the plague of 1527 as a possible reason for the writing.[4] Another opinion is that it was written as a battle song against the ottomans.[5] Others opine that it is intended against the traditional Christian church (now the Catholic Church), pointing out that the Protestants were acknowledged as a religious party on the 1529 Diet of Speyer.[6]

The question if Luther also created the melody has been discussed controversially. The musicologist Michael Fischer wrote "vermutlich […] auch Urheber der Melodie" (possibly also creator of the melody).[6] Others question if the tune was composed by Luther.[7]

The oldest extant source is the Augsburg Form und Ordnung geistlicher Gesang und Psalmen (Form and order of sacred songs and psalms) of 1529.[8][9] The song was also printed in the Erfurter Gesangbuch von Andreas Rauscher in 1531. The hymn is part of the 1533 edition of Klug'sches Gesangbuchs. It is therefore believed that it may have been part of the lost first edition, possibly as early as 1520, possibly also in another lost hymnal by Hans Weiß from 1528.[10]

Lyrics edit

 
Luther in 1529, by Lucas Cranach

The lyrics follow the current Protestant hymnal, with variants explained in footnotes.

Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,
ein gute Wehr und Waffen.
Er hilft uns frei aus aller Not,
die uns jetzt hat betroffen.
Der alt böse Feind
mit Ernst er’s jetzt meint,
groß Macht und viel List
sein grausam Rüstung ist,
auf Erd ist nicht seinsgleichen.

Mit unsrer Macht ist nichts getan,
wir sind gar bald verloren;
es streit' für uns der rechte Mann,
den Gott hat selbst erkoren.
Fragst du, wer der ist?
Er heißt Jesus Christ,
der Herr Zebaot,
und ist kein andrer Gott,
das Feld muss er behalten.

Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel wär
und wollt uns gar verschlingen,
so fürchten wir uns nicht so sehr,
es soll uns doch gelingen.
Der Fürst dieser Welt,
wie sau'r er sich stellt,
tut er uns doch nicht;
das macht, er ist gericht':
ein Wörtlein kann ihn fällen.

Das Wort sie sollen lassen stahn
und kein' Dank,[a] dazu haben;
er ist bei uns wohl auf dem Plan[b]
mit seinem Geist und Gaben.
Nehmen sie den Leib,[c]
Gut, Ehr, Kind und Weib:
lass fahren dahin,
sie haben's kein' Gewinn,
das Reich muss uns doch bleiben.

Tune edit

 
Original beginning of the tune[11] and later version[12]

EG 362, melody of the first printⓘ

EG 362, later versionⓘ

The original melody is in a lively, irregular rhythm. In later editions up to the 18th century, it was adjusted to more regular versions, which could be learned more easily by a congregation.[11] This tendency began already in a Zürcher Gesangbuch in 1669. The current Protestant hymnal offers both versions as EG 362.[13]

The hymn was set in choral versions, including:

Organ works based on the hymn have been written by composers including:

Johann Sebastian Bach composed a chorale cantata Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80. George Frideric Handel used the melody in the aria "To God, our strength" of An Occasional Oratorio (HWV 62). Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy quoted the tune in the last movement of his Reformation Symphony. Richard Wagner used the melody in his Kaisermarsch (WWV 104), composed for national celebrations in 1871.[13] Otto Nicolai wrote an orchestral fugue in Kirchliche Festouvertüre. In Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera Les Huguenots, the tune appears as a frequent motif of battle. Jacques Offenbach cited the melody in a variation in the finale on the text "Hosanna, Tod … ich liebe dich" (Hosanna, Death ... I love you" in the operetta Ba-ta-clan in 1855. Ludwig Meinardus wrote in 1872 an oratorio Luther in Worms, Op. 36, using the melody. Richard Strauss cited it in his opera Friedenstag. In Max Reger's Der 100. Psalm, Op. 106, the melody appears as a cantus firmus played by brass in the final double fugue. Claude Debussy used the tune to portrait the enemy, in his En blanc et noir of 1915, while he used the Marseillaise as a symbol for the French. Martin Zeller made the hymn the theme of the last movement of his Reformationskantate in 2017.[21]

Impact edit

The hymn became a symbol of the Reformation. Heinrich Heine called it the Marseillaise of the Reformation ("Marseiller Hymne der Reformation" in his essay Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland,[22] Friedrich Engels used the same image, writing of the "Marseillaise der Bauernkriege" (Marseillaise of the German Peasants' War).[23]

Beginning with the German Campaign of 1813, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" was used more and more to express battle in a national sense. It was sung at German national feasts such as the Wartburgfest in 1817 and the inauguration of the Luther Monument (Worms) in 1868.[24][25] During World War I, the nationalistic instrumentalisation reached a cliax, when the lines "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" and "Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel wär" were widely used, for example on war postcards. The song symbolized a Germany that was threatened from all directions but would ultimately triumph, trusting in God.[25][26]

A typical musical motif, on the text "Der alt böse Feind, mit Ernst er's jetzt meint", became the opening motif of Brüder, zur Sonne, zur Freiheit, later a popular song of labour movements.[27]

Gerhard Hahn describes the difficulty to still sing the hymn without reflecting the many ways in which its images of "Reich" and "Teufel" have been used.[28]

Literature edit

  • Hartmann Grisar [de]: Luthers Trutzlied "Ein feste Burg" in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1922.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Compare Middle High German dank as thought, will
  2. ^ Compare Middle High German plan as plain, battle field
  3. ^ Variant in several older prints: "Nehmen sie uns den Leib"

References edit

  1. ^ Herbst 2001, p. 207.
  2. ^ Hahn 2012, p. 67.
  3. ^ Klippen 1912, pp. 17–18.
  4. ^ Hildebrand 2003.
  5. ^ Korn 2008.
  6. ^ a b Fischer 2007.
  7. ^ Publizistik 2011.
  8. ^ Dachser 1529, p. 95.
  9. ^ Mager 1986.
  10. ^ Herbst 2001, p. 352.
  11. ^ a b Wilson-Dickson 1994.
  12. ^ Choralbuch 1956.
  13. ^ a b Lauterwasser 2012.
  14. ^ Free scores by Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (Mahu, Stephan) at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
  15. ^ Free scores by Ein feste Burg (Agricola, Martin) at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
  16. ^ Free scores by Ein veste Burg ist unser Gott (Hassler, Hans Leo) at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
  17. ^ Free scores by Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (Schein, Johann Hermann) at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
  18. ^ Free scores by Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (Melchior Franck) in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
  19. ^ Free scores by Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (Franck, Melchior) at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
  20. ^ Free scores by Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (Krieger, Johann Philipp) at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
  21. ^ Shomaker 2017.
  22. ^ Heine 1834.
  23. ^ Engels 1885.
  24. ^ Nation 2017.
  25. ^ a b Fischer 2014.
  26. ^ Freiburg 2012.
  27. ^ Linke 2016.
  28. ^ Hahn 2012, p. 71.

Works cited edit

External links edit

 
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Category:German Christian hymns Category:Works by Martin Luther Category:Psalm settings

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