Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow Von Gott will ich nicht lassen. - Bach's Chorals, vol. 3 The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the Organ Works

Return to Title Page for Bach’s Chorals, vol. 3 The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the Organ Works

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Music
Subject Area: Religion

Von Gott will ich nicht lassen. - Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach’s Chorals, vol. 3 The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the Organ Works [1921]

Edition used:

Bach’s Chorals. Part III: The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the Organ Works, by Charles Sanford Terry (Cambridge University Press, 1915-1921). 3 vols. Vol. 3.

Part of: Bach’s Chorals, 3 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


Von Gott will ich nicht lassen.

lf1393-03_figure_097

Melody: “Von Gott will ich nicht lassen”

Anon. 1572 [1571]*

    • i.

      From God shall nought divide me,
    • For He is true for aye,
    • And on my path will guide me,
    • Who else should often stray;
    • His ever-bounteous hand
    • By night and day is heedful,
    • And gives me what is needful,
    • Where’er I go or stand.
    • * * *

    • iii.

      If sorrow comes, He sent it,
    • In Him I put my trust;
    • I never shall repent it,
    • For He is true and just,
    • And loves to bless us still;
    • My life and soul, I owe them
    • To Him Who doth bestow them,
    • Let Him do as He will.

    • iv.

      Whate’er shall be His pleasure
    • Is surely best for me;
    • He gave His dearest treasure
    • That our weak hearts might see
    • How good His will t’ward us;
    • And in His Son He gave us
    • Whate’er could bless and save us—
    • Praise Him Who loveth thus!

    • v.

      Oh praise Him, for He never
    • Forgets our daily need;
    • Oh blest the hour whenever
    • To Him our thoughts can speed;
    • Yea, all the time we spend
    • Without Him is but wasted,
    • Till we His joy have tasted,
    • The joy that hath no end.

    • vi.

      For when the world is passing
    • With all its pomp and pride,
    • All we were here amassing
    • No longer may abide;
    • But in our earthly bed,
    • Where softly we are sleeping,
    • God hath us in His keeping,
    • To wake us from the dead.
    • * * *

    • viii.

      Then though on earth I suffer
    • Much trial, well I know
    • I merit ways still rougher,
    • And ’tis to heaven I go;
    • For Christ I know and love,
    • To Him I now am hasting,
    • And gladness everlasting
    • With Him this heart shall prove.

    • ix.

      For such His will Who made us;
    • The Father seeks our good:
    • The Son hath grace to aid us,
    • And save us by His blood;
    • His Spirit rules our ways,
    • By Faith in us abiding,
    • To heaven our footsteps guiding;
    • To Him be thanks and praise.

    • Ludwig Helmbold (1532-98)     Tr. Catherine Winkworth1 .

Ludwig Helmbold’s hymn, “Von Gott will ich nicht lassen,” was written circa 1563 to a secular melody, “Ich ging einmal spazieren,” and was published along with it in 1572 [1571]. Its relation to Paul Eber’s “Helft mir Gott’s Güte preisen” has been discussed already1 . It occurs in Cantatas 11, 73, 107 (c. 1725-35), the doubtful “Lobt ihn mit Herz und Munde,” Choralgesange, Nos. 324-326, and the Organ movement infra. Zahn (No. 5264b) does not reveal an earlier example of Bach’s distinctive variation of the opening phrase. It is not in Witt (No. 542). Bach’s text of the fifth (notes 9-13 of the second line supra) invariably contains one foot more than the original, an elongation of the line due to the addition of a syllable—“Er reicht mir seine Hand” for “Reicht mir seine Hand.”

[127]

N. xvii. 43. The movement is the eighth of the Eighteen Chorals. By means of a characteristic rhythm of joy, Bach, as in the Prelude “In dich hab’ich gehoffet, Herr,” expresses complete trust in and loyalty to God. The impression of intense feeling is conveyed by his ruminative treatment of the melody in the opening bars. Below these expressions of intimate feeling the Pedal canto fermo marches with unfaltering assurance in God’s goodness. An older text of the movement is in P. vii. 102. Two mss. of it exist, one of them in Krebs’ hand.

[* ] See page 313.

[1 ]Chorale Book for England, No. 140. The original hymn has nine stanzas, of which ii and vii are omitted in the translation.

[1 ] See Bach’s Chorals, Part I. 63.