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Subject Area: Music
Subject Area: Religion

Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, Schöpfer. - 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.

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Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, Schöpfer.

lf1393-03_figure_107

Melody: “Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott”

Anon. 1524

lf1393-03_figure_108

    • i.

      We all believe in One true God,
    • Maker of the earth and heaven;
    • The Father Who to us in love
    • Hath the claim of children given.
    • He in soul and body feeds us,
    • All we want His hand provides us,
    • Through all snares and perils leads us,
    • Watches that no harm betides us;
    • He cares for us by day and night,
    • All things are governed by His might.

    • ii.

      And we believe in Jesus Christ,
    • His Only Son, our Lord, possessing
    • An equal Godhead, throne and might,
    • Through Whom descends the Father’s blessing;
    • Conceivèd of the Holy Spirit,
    • Born of Mary, virgin mother,
    • That lost man might life inherit;
    • Made true man, our Elder Brother,
    • Was crucified for sinful men,
    • And raised by God to life again.

    • iii.

      And we confess the Holy Ghost,
    • Who from Son and Father floweth,
    • The Comforter of fearful hearts,
    • Who all precious gifts bestoweth;
    • In Whom all the Church hath union,
    • Who maintains the Saints’ Communion;
    • We believe our sins forgiven,
    • And that life with God in heaven,
    • When we are raised again, shall be
    • Our portion in eternity.

    • Martin Luther (1483-1546)     Tr. Catherine Winkworth1 .

Luther’s “Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott,” a free version of the Nicene Creed, was first published, with the melody (supra), in Johann Walther’s Hymnbook (Wittenberg, 1524). The hymn was sung at the funeral of Luther’s patron, Frederick the Wise of Saxony, in 1525, and was used as a funeral hymn in later times. During the Reformation it was generally sung after the sermon. The tune, no doubt, is derived from the plainsong of the Creed and was adapted by Walther. Bach uses it in the Organ works infra and Choralgesänge, No. 382. His text conforms closely to the original and Witt (No. 226).

[139]

N. xvi. 49. This and the following movement stand for the Creed among the Catechism hymns of the Clavierübung. To this, the longer of the two, English use attaches the popular name, the “Giant’s Fugue,” on account of its Pedal passages. They symbolize the impregnable foundation on which the Church’s faith rests and may be compared with the structure of Pedal crotchets on which Bach builds the “Credo in Unum Deum” and “Confiteor” of the B minor Mass. Above this foundation the first phrase of the melody

We all believe in One true God

is reiterated.

[140]

N. xvi. 52. The shorter movement in the Clavierübung is a Fughetta, for manuals only, upon the first line of the melody.

B.G. xl. 187 (P. ix. 40) prints a movement on the melody which Naumann holds to be “recht gut von Seb. Bach herrühren.” It is quite different in style from the Clavierübung movements and treats the melody without interludes. The ms. of it is in Krebs’ Sammelbuch.

[1 ]Chorale Book for England, App. VI. The original hymn has three stanzas.