Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott
BWV 80 performed by the Netherlands Bach Society
conducted by Shunske Sato
PHIL, Haarlem
Behind the music
Story
Story
Texts
Texts
Credits
Credits
Forward – march!
A combative cantata full of military references
In the seventeenth century, there were closer links between music and warfare than nowadays. A soldier with a flute was a cliché in the sixteenth century. This connection was due in part to metaphors about belief and battle that were set to music; metaphors that had only recently become merely metaphorical. In Bach’s day the thirty-year war had only just ended – in 1648 – and this war trauma was still fresh in everyone’s memory.
This militancy is seen primarily in the words of the cantata Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott: in the chorale of the same title, written by Luther. The war metaphors with which the text begins, based on psalm 46, soon turned the chorale into the battle song of the Reformation. So no wonder it was sung on 31 October: Reformation Day, which was a festival in Saxony, in Bach’s day. The definitive version of the cantata was built up by Bach over the years. The first version for Leipzig, performed in 1730, was based on music he had already composed in Weimar. The big opening chorus was still missing, but he did add the fifth movement. It was only for a new performance in 1735 that Bach started the cantata with a large-scale opening chorus.
Military references are found not just in the words, but in the music as well. In the seventeenth century, the oboe was still strongly associated with the army, and Bach used no fewer than three in this cantata. The sound of three oboes playing exactly the same, as in the opening chorus, was a typical ‘marching noise’. The concordant chorus in unison is reminiscent of the uniformity and order of a well trained army. In the midst of instrumental tumult – as in the fifth movement of the cantata – the chorus sounds like a disciplined military unit that marches in perfect synchrony across the battlefield.
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Vocal texts
Original
1. Chor
Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,
ein gute Wehr und Waffen;
er hilft uns frei aus aller Not,
die uns itzt hat betroffen.
Der alte böse Feind,
mit Ernst ers itzt meint,
groß Macht und viel List
sein grausam Rüstung ist,
auf Erd ist nicht seinsgleichen.
2. Arie (Bass) & Choral (Sopran)
Alles, was von Gott geboren,
ist zum Siegen auserkoren.
Mit unser Macht ist nichts getan,
wir sind gar bald verloren.
Es streit' vor uns der rechte Mann,
den Gott selbst hat erkoren.
Wer bei Christi Blutpanier
in der Taufe Treu geschworen,
siegt im Geiste für und für.
Fragst du, wer er ist?
Er heißt Jesus Christ,
der Herre Zebaoth,
und ist kein andrer Gott,
das Feld muß er behalten.
Alles, was von Gott geboren,
ist zum Siegen auserkoren.
3. Rezitativ (Bass)
Erwäge doch,
Kind Gottes, die so große Liebe,
da Jesus sich
mit seinem Blute dir verschriebe,
wormit er dich
zum Kriege wider Satans Heer
und wider Welt und Sünde
geworben hat!
Gib nicht in deiner Seele
dem Satan und den Lastern statt!
Laß nicht dein Herz,
den Himmel Gottes auf der Erden,
zur Wüste werden!
Bereue deine Schuld mit Schmerz,
daß Christi Geist
mit dir sich fest verbinde!
4. Arie (Sopran)
Komm in mein Herzenshaus,
Herr Jesu, mein Verlangen!
Treib Welt und Satan aus
und laß dein Bild in mir erneuert prangen!
Weg, schnöder Sündengraus!
5. Chor
Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel wär
und wollten uns verschlingen,
so fürchten wir uns nicht so sehr,
es soll uns doch gelingen.
Der Fürst dieser Welt,
wie saur er sich stellt,
tut er uns doch nicht,
das macht, er ist gericht',
ein Wörtlein kann ihn fällen.
6. Rezitativ (Tenor)
So stehe dann bei Christi blutgefärbten Fahne,
o Seele, fest
und glaube, daß dein Haupt dich nicht verläßt,
ja, daß sein Sieg
auch dir den Weg
zu deiner Krone bahne!
Tritt freudig an den Krieg!
Wirst du nur Gottes Wort
so hören als bewahren,
so wird der Feind gezwungen auszufahren,
dein Heiland bleibt dein Hort!
7. Arie (Alt, Tenor)
Wie selig sind doch die,
die Gott im Munde tragen,
doch selger ist das Herz,
das ihn im Glauben trägt!
Es bleibet unbesiegt
und kann die Feinde schlagen
und wird zuletzt gekrönt,
wenn es den Tod erlegt.
8. Choral
Das Wort sie
sollen lassen stahn
und kein' Dank dazu haben.
Er ist bei uns
wohl auf dem Plan
mit seinem Geist und Gaben.
Nehmen sie uns den Leib,
Gut, Ehr, Kind und Weib,
laß fahren dahin,
sie habens
kein Gewinn;
Das Reich
muß uns doch bleiben.
Translation
1. Chorus
A secure fortress is our God,
A good defense and weaponry;
He helps free us from every distress
That has befallen us now.
The ancient wicked enemy [Satan],
He means it seriously now,
Great power and much cunning
Is his gruesome suit of armor;
On earth there is not his equal.
2. Aria (Bass) and Chorale (Soprano)
Everything born of God
Is chosen for triumph.
With our own power nothing is done,
We are quite soon lost.
The right man fights for us,
[This man] whom God himself has chosen.
Whoever in baptism has sworn fealty
By Christ’s banner of blood,
Triumphs in Christ ever and ever.
You ask who he is?
He is called Jesus Christ,
The Lord of Sabaoth,
And [Christ] is no other god;
He must hold the battlefield.
Everything born of God
Is chosen for triumph.
3. Recitative (Bass)
Consider well,
Child of God, this love so great,
When Jesus
Committed himself to you by his blood;
Whereby,
For the war against Satan’s host
And against the world and sin,
He has recruited you.
Do not allow in your soul
Satan and vices.
Do not let your heart,
God’s paradise on earth,
Become a wasteland.
Rue your guilt with pain,
That the Spirit of Christ may
securely bond itself to you.
4. Aria (Soprano)
Come into my heart as your house,
Lord Jesus, my desire.
Drive world and Satan out,
And let your image shine in me [who is] renewed.
Away, sin, you odious horror!
5. Chorus
And if the world were filled with devils
Who would want to devour us,
Then we should not be much afraid;
It shall still go well for us.
The prince of this world [Satan],
However fermented he acts,
Still does nothing to us;
That is, he is judged [by God];
One little word [of God’s] can fell him.
6. Recitative (Tenor)
So stand secure, then, by Christ’s blood-tinged flag,
Oh soul,
And believe that your head [Christ] will not desert you;
Yes, that his triumph [on the cross]
May pave the way for even you
to your crown [of glory].
Joyfully enter into the war.
If you only will both hear and keep God’s word,
Then the enemy [Satan]
Will be forcibly cast out;
Your savior remains your refuge.
7. Aria (Alt, Tenor)
How blessed indeed are they
who bear God, by mouth;
Yet more blessed is the heart
that bears him, by faith!
It [the heart] remains unvanquished
and can defeat enemies,
And will finally be crowned
when it slays death.
8. Chorale
They [Satan and his minions]
shall let the word [of God] stand,
And have no commendation for it.
He [God’s word, Jesus] is surely
by us on the plain [of battle],
With his Spirit and gifts.
If they may take from us our body,
Goods, honor, child and wife,
Let [these] go over there [to them];
They [Satan and his minions] have,
in that, no [real] spoils;
To us, indeed,
must the kingdom [of heaven] remain.
transl. © Daniel R. Melamed and Michael Marissen
For the annotated version of the text and translation, see here.
Credits
-
- Release date
- 2 March 2023
-
- Recording date
- 21 June 2022
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- Location
- Philarmonie Haarlem
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- Violin and direction
- Shunske Sato
-
- Soprano
- Isabel Schicketanz
-
- Alto
- Franz Vitzthum
-
- Tenor
- Thomas Hobbs
-
- Bass
- Wolf Matthias Friedrich
-
- Ripieno soprano
- Lauren Armishaw, Marta Paklar
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- Ripieno alto
- Sofia Gvirts, Bernadett Nagy
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- Ripieno tenor
- Adriaan de Koster
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- Ripieno bass
- Matthew Baker, Pierre Guy Le Gall White, Jaap van der Wel
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- Violin 1
- Sayuri Yamagata, Femke Huizinga, Kano Imada
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- Violin 2
- Lucia Giraudo, Annelies van der Vegt, Pieter Affourtit
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- Viola
- Deirdre Dowling, Staas Swierstra
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- Cello
- Barbara Kernig, Lucia Swarts
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- Double bass
- Robert Franenberg
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- Traverso
- Marten Root, Doretthe Janssens
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- Oboe
- Rodrigo Lopez Paz, Ivan Podyomov, Katharina Verhaar
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- Bassoon
- Benny Aghassi
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- Organ
- Leo van Doeselaar
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- Harpsichord
- Siebe Henstra
-
- Director and camera
- Bas Wielenga
-
- Music recording
- Guido Tichelman, Pim van der Lee, Lilita Dunska
-
- Music edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
-
- Camera
- Martijn Struijf, Jesper Blok, Rob van der Gragt, Matthijs Notten, Lisa Xiu Kok
-
- Lights
- Dirk Zijlstra, Nick Fadieiev
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- Set technique
- Justin Mutsaers
-
- Grip
- Rinco Ederveen
-
- Gaffer
- Zen Bloot
-
- Producer concert
- Marco Meijdam
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- Assistent director
- Ferenc Soeteman
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- Assistant music recording
- Marloes Biermans
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- Stylist
- Ellen Julianus
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- Producer film
- Marieke de Blaay
-
- With support from
- MWH4impact
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