Johann Sebastian Bach A mighty fortress is our God

Cantata for Reformation Day. Reconstruction Klaus Hofmann BWV 80 (BWV3 80.3)

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Bach's Reformation cantata, based on what is probably Martin Luther's most famous hymn, evolved over a period of several years. At the beginning was a Weimar cantata for Oculi Sunday 1716, now missing, which was based on the hymn with an instrumental quotation in the opening aria and with the final chorale. In the Leipzig years around 1730, Bach wrote a cantata for Reformation Day using this material. It began with the first verses of Luther's hymn in a simple four-part setting and also included the other verses. Later on, in the 1730s or 1740s, Bach replaced the introductory chorale movement with a chorale setting which was unique, spacious and motet-like in its style; this – uniquely in this respect – incorporated the choral writing in an instrumental canon for oboes and organ continuo. The powerful opening chorus is followed by recitatives and arias which reflect the full breadth of Bach's art of word painting and emotion. One of Bach's most magnificent cantatas, one of the greatest works in the history of music.

In addition to the complete performance material the arrangements of movements 1 and 5 (with 3 trumpets, timpani as playing score) by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach are available (Carus 31.080/89).

The work is also available as a reconstruction of the first Leipzig version (Carus 31.080/50) and as an arrangement for choir and organ (Carus 31.351/00).

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  • 1. Choral

    A mighty fortress is our God,
    a stronghold never failing.
    He helps us when with troubles fraught
    and freely grants his caring.
    The evil enemy,
    attacks us with glee
    his weapons are cruel,
    treachery would rule,
    on earth is none beside him.

    2. Aria (Soprano e Basso)

    All those born of God are praising
    and in victory rejoicing.

    With all our strength is nothing done,
    for soon we are defeated.
    For us the right defense has come,
    whom God himself selected.

    Those who by the blood of Christ
    ...
  • 1. Choral

    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. Aria (Soprano e Basso)

    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
    ...
  • Text from the CD Carus 83.282

    Klaus Hofmann
    Translation: (abridged): Elizabeth Robinson

    No hymn is as closely associated with the figure of Martin Luther and the Reformation as Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. The hymn which Luther wrote in 1527, based on Psalm 46, became the confessional hymn of the Protestant movement soon after it was written. With his chorale cantata for Reformation Day, Johann Sebastian Bach paid a unique homage to the Lutheran hymn. It is the introductory chorale movement for chorus on the first verse of the hymn in particular which sets the work apart from the majority of Bach’s church cantatas. With its 114 breves, the movement has no equal in its form. The architectural concept, as it were, is unique. Here a four-part choral motet, in which all the lines of the hymn are treated individually in fugal form, is overarched by the outer orchestral parts with a canon on the same hymn melody.

    ...
  • Booklet-Text der CD Carus 83.282

    Klaus Hofmann

    Kein Kirchenlied ist im allgemeinen Bewusstsein so eng mit der Person Martin Luthers, der Reformation und dem lutherischen Bekenntnis verbunden wie Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. Das von Luther in einer Zeit innerer und äußerer Anfechtung um 1527 in Anlehnung an Psalm 46 („Gott ist unsre Zuversicht und Stärke“) geschaffene Lied wurde schon bald nach seiner Entstehung zum Bekenntnishymnus der protestantischen Bewegung. Und bis heute erklingt es in allen evangelischen Kirchen am Reformationsfest, das alljährlich am 31. Oktober im Gedenken an den legendären Wittenberger Thesenanschlag Martin Luthers im Jahre 1517 begangen wird.

    Johann Sebastian Bach hat mit seiner Choralkantate zum Reformationsfest dem Luther’schen Hymnus ein einzigartiges Denkmal gesetzt. Dabei ist es vor allem der einleitende Choralchor über

    ...
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  • Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most important composers of Western music history. He came from a widely ramified musical dynasty, which produced numerous musicians and organists in the Thuringian-Saxon area.

    Bach vocal

    Ever since Carus-Verlag was founded in 1972, publishing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach has been a special focus for us. In the 2017 Reformation anniversary year we completed the Bach vocal project. Bach's complete sacred vocal works are now available in modern Urtext editions, together with performance material. A complete edition of all the full scores is also available in a high quality box set. Personal details

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Frequent questions about this work

A Reformation cantata without trumpets and timpani?

Yes. Bach’s Reformation cantatas are characterized by a certain restraint both outwardly and inwardly, they avoid any demonstrative showy splendor, and celebrate the victory of religious truth and divine power over evil, free from any confessional superiority. In the cantata “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” BWV 80 this occurs without the orchestral brilliance of trumpets and timpani, the Baroque attributes of power. But the work is nonetheless festively scored: in addition to the usual four vocal soloists, a four-part chorus and string orchestra, the cantata calls for three oboists – also doubling other instruments – and the continuo requires both organ and harpsichord.
Indeed it does. This is to some extent thanks an irony in the way it survived, which has posed some problems for Bach scholars in the past. During his time as music director in Halle, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach added Latin parody texts to the opening chorus and a later movement in the cantata, “Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel wär”, and added trumpets and timpani parts for the performance. In the 19th century the opinion prevailed that Bach’s son had taken these parts from his father’s cantata, and had added them to the cantata score – an error with wide-reaching practical consequences for music editions and performances to the present day.
Like most of Bach’s cantatas, this one also requires a high standard from the vocal soloists throughout. But the real challenge is for the choir, especially the opening movement which sets the first verse of Luther’s hymn. This highly complex work is a large-scale chorale motet with orchestra, in which the hymn tune is treated imitatively and the vocal writing is simultaneously embedded into an instrumental cantus firmus canon of oboes and organ continuo. It is a monumental piece, unique amongst Bach’s cantatas, anticipating the Kantor of St. Thomas’s late contrapuntal works.
There is in fact a less elaborate alternative. The late version of the cantata from the 1730s or 1740s was preceded by a distinctly simpler version around 1728/30, the “first Leipzig version” BWV 80b (Carus 31.080/50). It has the same basic form and largely matches the later version in musical material, but places considerably fewer demands on the choir and instrumental forces. Here, apart from strings, just a single oboe is required (also doubling oboe da caccia or English horn), and the continuo requires just a single keyboard instrument. But above all, the choir has a much easier task as the beginning and end is a simple four-part chorale movement.
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