Amazing pieces of classical music - 44
Johann Sebastian Bach's cantate (BWV 80) "A mighty fortress is our God" with Martin Luther's paraphrase of the Old Testament Psalm No. 46 is a real so-called must-see and hear in Kenneth Clark's BBC TV series Civilization, and must be my next pick. Legend has it that Luther wrote the words in 1521 on his way to the Imperial Diet of Worms, where he had been summoned for interrogation by Emperor Charles V, but the hymn's creation is now estimated to have occurred six to nine years later.
Johannes Eccard's music for the hymn was even considered by the German people to be their national hymn, and there are accounts that during WOII German prisoners often sang the hymn in group. The performers of "Ein feste Burg" in K. Clark's episode on the topic of Protest and Communication are likely to be the then East German (1966) Dresden Kreuzchor under Rudolf Mauersberger. The latter is considered one of the most prominent church musicians of the last century.
No one can doubt that both Humanism and Protestantism has had a significant impact on our culture and civilization. 🥲 As my cat is at the end of her life, I grasp, as many did before me, to make sense of not only religion but also the real sense to life. I can only see that the love of God isn't about this life at all, but it's about the promise made to us and to every creature's beginnings. Not only is it from dust to dust, but love to love. Lets never forget that it's indeed not only about ending but also regaining.
The cantata primarily demonstrates this militancy in its text, taken from the actual chorale written by Martin Luther. It made it into the battle song of the Reformation and is sung on the 31st October, remembering Luther nailing his Ninety-five Theses to a church door in Wittenberg in 1517, eversince. The first cantate version for Leipzig in 1723 was based on music Bach had already composed in Weimar. Only at a new performance later in 1735 did it begin with the grand opening chorus.
In the seventeenth century, the oboe was still strongly associated with the army, and Bach uses no fewer than three in this cantata. The sound of three oboes playing identically, as in the opening chorus, was a typical "marching sound". The unified, single-voiced choir evokes a well-trained army, full of uniformity and order. Amidst instrumental tumult (as in the cantata's fifth movement) the chorus sounds like a disciplined army unit marching in perfect synchrony across the battlefield. Onwards and upwards.
The third recording below is not an official performance but a live recording in the St. Markus Kirche München of a rehearsal of the cantata with Münchener Bach-Chor and Bach-Orchester under direction of Karl Richter in 1963. The old quality to the sound that the recording has really brings forth the splendor and brilliance of the music. It is also a generally good interpretation, in my own modest opinion, and I do hope that you'll get to know yet another amazing piece of classical music that will stay with you
[media=https://youtu.be/uI7QMtXBLgY]
[media=https://youtu.be/1hdMaIGl3wc]
[media=https://youtu.be/oNQpNkPkGW8]
Johannes Eccard's music for the hymn was even considered by the German people to be their national hymn, and there are accounts that during WOII German prisoners often sang the hymn in group. The performers of "Ein feste Burg" in K. Clark's episode on the topic of Protest and Communication are likely to be the then East German (1966) Dresden Kreuzchor under Rudolf Mauersberger. The latter is considered one of the most prominent church musicians of the last century.
No one can doubt that both Humanism and Protestantism has had a significant impact on our culture and civilization. 🥲 As my cat is at the end of her life, I grasp, as many did before me, to make sense of not only religion but also the real sense to life. I can only see that the love of God isn't about this life at all, but it's about the promise made to us and to every creature's beginnings. Not only is it from dust to dust, but love to love. Lets never forget that it's indeed not only about ending but also regaining.
The cantata primarily demonstrates this militancy in its text, taken from the actual chorale written by Martin Luther. It made it into the battle song of the Reformation and is sung on the 31st October, remembering Luther nailing his Ninety-five Theses to a church door in Wittenberg in 1517, eversince. The first cantate version for Leipzig in 1723 was based on music Bach had already composed in Weimar. Only at a new performance later in 1735 did it begin with the grand opening chorus.
In the seventeenth century, the oboe was still strongly associated with the army, and Bach uses no fewer than three in this cantata. The sound of three oboes playing identically, as in the opening chorus, was a typical "marching sound". The unified, single-voiced choir evokes a well-trained army, full of uniformity and order. Amidst instrumental tumult (as in the cantata's fifth movement) the chorus sounds like a disciplined army unit marching in perfect synchrony across the battlefield. Onwards and upwards.
The third recording below is not an official performance but a live recording in the St. Markus Kirche München of a rehearsal of the cantata with Münchener Bach-Chor and Bach-Orchester under direction of Karl Richter in 1963. The old quality to the sound that the recording has really brings forth the splendor and brilliance of the music. It is also a generally good interpretation, in my own modest opinion, and I do hope that you'll get to know yet another amazing piece of classical music that will stay with you
[media=https://youtu.be/uI7QMtXBLgY]
[media=https://youtu.be/1hdMaIGl3wc]
[media=https://youtu.be/oNQpNkPkGW8]
