The Online Library of Liberty

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• Prefatory Note
• Melodies
• Ach Bleib’ Bei Uns, Herr Jesu Christ.
• Ach Gott Und Herr.
• Ach Wie Fluchtig.
• Alle Menschen Mussen Sterben.
• Allein Gott In Der Hoh’ Sei Ehr’.
• An Wasserflüssen Babylon.
• Aus Tiefer Noth Schrei Ich Zu Dir.
• Christ, Der Du Bist Der Helle Tag.
• Christ Ist Erstanden.
• Christ Lag In Todesbanden.
• Christ Unser Herr Zum Jordan Kam.
• Christe, Du Lamm Gottes.
• Christum Wir Sollen Loben Schon.
• Christus, Der Uns Selig Macht.
• Da Jesus an Dem Kreuze Stund.
• Das Alte Jahr Vergangen Ist.
• Das Jesulein Soll Doch Mein Trost.
• Der Tag, Der Ist So Freudenreich.
• Dies Sind Die Heil’gen Zehn Gebot ’.
• Durch Adams Fall Ist Ganz Verderbt.
• Ein’ Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott.
• Erbarm’ Dich Mein, O Herre Gott.
• Erschienen Ist Der Herrliche Tag.
• Erstanden Ist Der Heil’ge Christ.
• Es Ist Das Heil Uns Kommen Her.
• Gelobet Seist Du, Jesu Christ.
• Gottes Sohn Ist Kommen.
• Gott, Durch Deine Güte.
• Helft Mir Gott’s Güte Preisen.
• Herr Christ, Der Ein’ge Gottes-sohn.
• Herr Gott, Nun Sei Gepreiset.
• Herr Gott Dich Loben Wir.
• Herr Gott, Nun Schleuss Den Himmel Auf.
• Herr Jesu Christ, Dich Zu Uns Wend ’.
• Herzlich Thut Mich Verlangen.
• Heut’ Triumphiret Gottes Sohn.
• Hilf Gott, Dass Mir’s Gelinge.
• Ich Hab’ Mein Sach’ Gott Heimgestellt.
• Ich Ruf’ Zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ.
• In Dich Hab’ Ich Gehoffet, Herr.
• In Dir Ist Freude.
• In Dulci Jubilo.
• Jesu, Meine Freude.
• Jesus Christus, Unser Heiland, Der Den Tod.
• Jesus Christus, Unser Heiland, Der Von Uns.
• Jesus, Meine Zuversicht.
• Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist.
• Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott.
• Kommst Du Nun, Jesu, Vom Himmel Herunter Auf Erden ?
• Kyrie, Gott Vater In Ewigkeit.
• Liebster Jesu, Wir Sind Hier.
• Lob Sei Dem Allmachtigen Gott.
• Lobt Gott, Ihr Christen Alle Gleich.
• Meine Seele Erhebt Den Herren.
• Mit Fried’ Und Freud’ Ich Fahr’ Dahin.
• Nun Danket Alle Gott.
• Nun Freut Euch, Lieben Christen G’mein.
• Es Ist Gewisslich an Der Zeit.
• Nun Komm, Der Heiden Heiland.
• O Gott, Du Frommer Gott.
• O Lamm Gottes Unschuldig.
• O Mensch, Bewein’ Dein’ Sünde Gross.
• Puer Natus In Bethlehem.
• Schmücke Dich, O Liebe Seele.
• Sei Gegrüsset, Jesu Gütig.
• Valet Will Ich Dir Geben.
• Vater Unser Im Himmelreich.
• Vom Himmel Hoch Da Komm Ich Her.
• Vom Himmel Kam Der Engel Schaar.
• Von Gott Will Ich Nicht Lassen.
• Wachet Auf, Ruft Uns Die Stimme.
• Wenn Wir In Höchsten Nothen Sein.
• Wer Nur Den Lieben Gott Lässt Walten.
• Wie Schön Leuchtet Der Morgenstern.
• Wir Christenleut ’.
• Wir Danken Dir, Herr Jesu Christ.
• Wir Glauben All’ an Einen Gott, Schöpfer.
• Wir Glauben All’ an Einen Gott, Vater
• Wo Soll Ich Fliehen Hin.

Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, Der von uns.

• • i.

    Christ Jesus, our Redeemer born,
  • Who from us did God’s anger turn,
  • Through His sufferings sore and main,
  • Did help us all out of hell-pain.

• • ii.

    That we never should forget it,
  • Gave He us His flesh, to eat it,
  • Hid in poor bread, gift divine,
  • And, to drink, His blood in the wine.

• • iii.

    Who will draw near to that table
  • Must take heed, all he is able.
  • Who unworthy thither goes,
  • Thence death instead of life he knows.

• • iv.

    God the Father praise thou duly,
  • That He thee would feed so truly,
  • And for ill deeds by thee done
  • Up unto death has given His Son.

• • v.

    Have this faith, and do not waver,
  • ’Tis a fool for every craver
  • Who, his heart with sin opprest,
  • Can no more for its anguish rest.

• • vi.

    Such kindness and such grace to get,
  • Seeks a heart with agony great.
  • Is it well with thee? take care,
  • Lest at last thou shouldst evil fare.

• • vii.

    He doth say, Come hither, O ye
  • Poor, that I may pity show ye.
  • No physician th’ whole man will,
  • He makes a mockery of his skill.

• • viii.

    Hadst thou any claim to proffer,
  • Why for thee then should I suffer?
  • This table is not for thee,
  • If thou wilt set thine own self free.

• • ix.

    If such faith thy heart possesses,
  • And the same thy mouth confesses,
  • Fit guest then thou art indeed,
  • And so the food thy soul will feed.

• • x.

    But bear fruit, or lose thy labour:
  • Take thou heed thou love thy neighbour;
  • That thou food to him mayst be,
  • As thy God makes Himself to thee.

  • Martin Luther (1483-1546)     Tr. George Macdonald1 .

The hymn is a translation, by Martin Luther, of the Eucharistic “Jesus Christus, nostra salus,” generally described as “St Johannes Hussen Lied,” though Hus’s authorship is doubtful. Luther’s hymn was published in Walther’s Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn (Wittenberg, 1524) and in Enchiridion oder eyn Handbuchlein (Erfurt, 1524), in both cases with the tune (supra). The hymn is described as “St John Hus’s hymn improved.” In fact only the first of its ten stanzas is based on the Latin. Luther and his musical helper, Johann Walther, appear to have discarded the old melody of the Latin hymn. The 1524 tune is attributed, without strong evidence, to Luther himself. When the hymn was repeated in Joseph Klug’s Geistliche Lieder (Wittenberg, 1535), a tune was substituted for that of 1524, which also bears no resemblance to the Latin melody.

In Choralgesange, No. 206, and the Organ movements infra Bach uses the 1524 melody, his text of which is invariable. His version of the second and third phrases differs from the original and is found in Witt (No. 320).

The 1524 melody appears to have been very dear to Bach. The Organ movements on it number four; two of them in the third part of the Clavierübung, and the other two among the Eighteen Chorals.

[77]

N. xvi. 74. The most striking feature of this Clavierübung Fantasia is the arresting “step” motive which paces throughout it, a musical exegesis of the hymn. The striding and confident theme inculcates stedfast faith in the power of the sacrament to forgive sin. “Bach wishes,” writes Schweitzer1 , “to illustrate the Lutheran dogma of the Communion. We know that Luther was opposed to the rationalism of Zwingli, who regarded the sacramental words as symbolical and the whole celebration as a simple ceremony of remembrance. To Luther the essence of the doctrine of the sacrament was faith in a real change in the elements, in virtue of which the Communion gives remission of sins.” Bach shared Luther’s conviction and expresses his confidence in a theme spaced extraordinarily widely. The tremendous “step” motive in the “Sanctus” of the B minor Mass may be compared with it, in which the adoration of men and angels is built upon a theme that strides in octaves and arches the heavens. In the present movement Bach clearly had the fifth stanza of Luther’s hymn before him:

• Have this faith, and do not waver,
• ’Tis a fool for every craver
• Who, his heart with sin opprest,
• Can no more for its anguish rest.

[78]

N. xvi. 80. The second of the Clavierübung movements is in strong contrast to its predecessor. Fugal in form, and based on the first phrase of the melody only, it is contemplative in mood, and seems to follow No. 77 as the ninth stanza of the hymn is the corollary of the fifth:

• If such faith thy heart possesses,
• And the same thy mouth confesses,
• Fit guest then thou art indeed,
• And so the food thy soul will feed.

[79]

N. xvii. 74. When, eight or nine years after the Clavierubung was published, Bach included two movements upon the melody among the Eighteen Chorals, he approached the hymn from a different standpoint. He probably felt that the first of the Clavierübung movements sacrificed art to dogmatics. The first of the movements in the “Eighteen” is a Communion Prelude; alone of the four it is marked “sub communione.” It is one of two Preludes—“O Lamm Gottes” (N. xvii. 32) being the other—in which Bach illustrates in their sequence the lines of the hymn text. In the present movement he selects from each of the four lines of the first stanza a particular word for illustration:

• Christ Jesus, our Redeemer born,
• Who from us did God’s anger turn,
• Through His sufferings sore and main,
• Did help us all out of hell-pain.

For the first thirteen bars Bach’s treatment of the cantus is inspired by the word “Redeemer.” At the fourteenth bar he introduces a rhythm which Schweitzer likens to the accompaniment of the Arioso “O gracious God” (No. 60) in the St Matthew Passion, which recalls Christ’s scourging. It suggests the strokes of God’s anger, from which the Redeemer’s Passion rescued mankind, and persists to the twenty-sixth bar, accompanying the second phrase of the cantus. At bar twenty-seven chromatic scale passages picture Christ’s “bitter Leiden” (sufferings sore and main). They are woven above and below the third phrase of the cantus and reach their climax in the thirty-seventh bar. At bar thirty-eight the fourth phrase of the cantus is introduced by a short figure

which typifies the Resurrection and man’s rescue from the pains of Hell. “We fancy,” writes Schweitzer “we can see in this affecting ending the strong arm of the Saviour drawing mankind upward1 .”

B.G. xxv. (2) 188 (P.vi.112) prints an older text of the movement, the ms. of which formerly was in Krebs’ possession.

[80]

N. xvii. 79. The movement must have been one of the last Bach revised. The ms. of it is in his son-in-law Altnikol’s hand1 . It is, however, one of Bach’s early works. Schweitzer2 points to the influence of Buxtehude. Spitta3 places the composition in the first years of Bach’s residence at Weimar.

It cannot be without design that Bach devotes the last nine bars of the movement to an elaboration of the fourth phrase of the cantus. Consequently he emphasizes the line:

[1 ]Exotics, p. 103. The original hymn has ten stanzas.

[1 ] Vol. ii. 61.

[1 ] Vol. ii. 73. See also Spitta, i. 613. He anticipates Schweitzer’s analysis.

[1 ] Altnikol married Bach’s daughter Elisabeth in 1749.

[2 ] Vol. i. 292.

[3 ] Vol. i. 613.