Discussions

When God Sang German: Bach's Sacred Music, Luther

William L. Hoffman wrote (June 11, 2021):
Recent books dealing with Bach's sacred church music cover a wide range of topics from William B. Fischer's When God Sang German: Etymological Essays about the Language of Bach‘s Sacred Music and the late Craig Smith's Bringing Bach's Music to Life: Essays on Bach's Cantatas to two new 2021 collections of essays, Robin A. Leaver's Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, and Theology, and Noelle M. Haber's J. S. Bach's Material and Spiritual Treasures: A Theological Perspective. Each offers a special perspective on Bach's spiritual practices that fills a vital place in his endeavors, with a substantial understanding of the texts and their meaning in an increasingly profane musical world.¹ Contextual explorations in these four books involve Fischer's word-origins of the German texts and Bach's treatment (see below), the "unique relationship to Bach's works and their liturgical function" in selective Smith sacred cantata essays, an updated compendium of Leaver's exploration of the religious aspects of Bach's vocal and instrumental works during the past 40 years, and Haber's examination of the original import of Bach's church settings in theological themes "related to earthly and heavenly treasures."

Text Importance in Sacred Works

While many music lovers and musicians are moved by the actual sounds — the melodies and harmonies — of Bach's sacred music, the actual texts or textual implications of the hymns often are ignored or neglected, beyond the immediate incipits or nicknames given to some of the cantatas as musical sermons, such as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (Cantata 147, YouTube) or the St. Matthew Passion thematic chorale," "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" (YouTube). Popular reception history often has found that embedded within the embarrassment of Bachian musical riches are an uncomfortable plethora of words sometimes sprinkled with crude and subjective pietistic descriptions, metaphors, or symbols that had significant meaning in Bach's time and place but barely bring a smile or sigh to contemporary readers. In Bach's time, the textual materials of biblical quotations or allusions, strophic verses of the chorales, and especially madrigalian (Wikipedia) lyrical poetry, constituted the foundation and driving force of these multi-faceted, extended compositions created for the church congregant. As science and literacy evolved during the Age of Enlightenment Wikipedia), bedrock Lutheran devotional texts, for example, proliferated through translations and became the substance of many denominational hymn books still found throughout Christendom, reflecting the times and interests in which they were created and renewed.

Blending Discourse, Music

Fundamental literary rhetorical devices bolstered the meaning of the texts and music through the basic uses of symmetry or balance of form, contrast, and repetition. Although lacking a university degree, Bach brought the full measure of his genius to bear on the established, printed text writings and newly-written poetry from pastors, professors, poets, and students, whose authors are still being determined. Through these writings and their historical contexts and affinities, Bach sought to set discourse to music that embodied both, each sustaining the other. The juxtaposition of sorrow and joy is a central theme in Bach’s works, especially in the great closing choruses of all three extant Passions for Good Friday, and is based upon Ecclesiastes 3:4: “There is a time for sorrow and a time for joy, for mourning and dancing.” Each of the rest-in-the grave choruses of Bach’s original Passion settings of John, Matthew, and Mark uses sorrowful texts set to dance music of joy, respectively: “Rest well, ye holy limbs,” a 3/4 minuet (YouTube); “We sit our selves down in tears,” a 3/4 sarabande (YouTube; and “By thy rock grave and great tombstone,” a 12/8 gigue (YouTube). Bach's favorite poet, Picander (BCW), authored the last two while the first, John, is still researched and debated, and may be an amalgam of influences (BCW).

Fischer's When God Sang German

This most welcomed study of the etymology (word origin and use) and greater philology underlying Bach's sacred works is Fischer's When God Sang German: Etymological Essays about the Language of Bach‘s Sacred Music.² The back cover text and illustrations ³ of author Fischer provide a synopsis of his book (see also Amazon.de), showing the origins and meanings of words illustrated with the Gothic Bible (4th century) with the Lord's Prayer (Wikipedia); the book's organization of sacred themes involving the German Mentilin Bible (1466) with Psalm 23 (Bible Gateway), preceding Martin Luther, and a summary of the Introduction with Luther's iconic chorale, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" (YouTube) Author Fischer's biography shows complementary academic and personal experiences, the writing informal and engaging but packed with relevant facts and observations, as well as extensive, varied, informative illustrations. His book is a model of self-publishing and scholarship at a time when alternative, traditional publishing is confined to silos of academic and commercial print publishing or on-line publishing — all with inherent restrictions. His findings reveal that while music in its basic form is a universal language, Bach's German was a developing verbal communication system, where the origins of words and exact meanings were obscured and shifting, based upon the common Proto-Indo European (PIE) origin, taking centuries to establish and develop.⁴ His book describes hundreds of textual words with select illustrations through links to Bach's works, with the origin and development of words based upon written usage as found in writings, similar to language dictionary citations. The next category of study is the organization of Bach's sacred texts through categories of theology and cosmology, based on the Lord's Prayer, with the exploration of "cultural echoes," examples from classic German literature. Fischer devotes his first 30 chapters to "the major stages of movement from the Creation to the New Earth and New Heaven," he says in his Preface (Ibid.: xii). "The essential meaning of Christ is not his presence with God at the Creation, or His birth in Bethlehem (though the Christmas Oratorio [YouTube] is a big crowd-pleaser), but rather Easter and what it promises."

Linguistic Principles in Organizational Structure

Fischer's Preface is a terse explication of the linguistic principles as applied to the organizational structure, based upon Bach's own contemporary world-view (Ibid.: x), beginning with the dimensions of God, Heaven, and Earth and the sacred principles of what can be called the [Cosmic] "Christ (not yet Jesus) and the Holy Spirit," moving to the earthly, ephemeral and mundane of Bach's view of human life "in terms of progression through time and progress towards Salvation and union with God and Christ, with the Holy Spirit contributing something (though we still don't quite understand what that is, perhaps even less then we comprehend the Trinity itself)," Fischer comments (Ibid: xi). The Introduction (Ibid.: 1-35) surveys the development of the German language, with particular regard to language in music and to Luther's importance to Bach. The 30 main chapters are each built on a theme, such as "Heaven and Earth" or "Pregnant, Inn, Manger." These 30 chapters are divided into six parts, based upon the petition passages in the Lord's Prayer.⁵ The first part is the Introduction to the Lord's Prayer and first petition (Our Father in heaven, / hallowed be your name; Mat 6:9-13, NRSV) involving five foundational chapters of Creator and Creator's Creation (God/Father; Heaven, Earth; Holy Ghost; Son of Man/Savior/Redeemer; and Lord, Ruler (Christus Victor).⁶ The next five chapters (6-10), Part II (the next two petitions, "Your kingdom come. / Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.") cover what Fischer calls "the foundation and foretaste of salvation in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus" (Ibid.: xi). This also is known liturgically as the Christological de tempore (Proper Time) first half of the church year on the life of Jesus Christ (Incarnation/Advent; Birth, Circumcision; Christmas/Shepherds; Miracles, Desert; Last Supper/Communion, Passion), also known as "Bach's Messiah Cycle." ⁷ Part III (chapters 11-15) covers the fourth petition (Give us this day our daily bread), involving, says Fischer (Ibid.), "the realm of ordinary mortals, their child-birthing, living and dying, and their this-worldly environment of lands, peoples, rulers, towns, and work." This also is the beginning of the second half of the church year, omnes tempore (Ordinary Time) involving the sustenance of the Church's teachings and fundamental themes (Country/Realm; German People; Leader, Confession; Community, Citizen; and Labor/Work). Part IV (Chapters 16-20) covers the fifth petition (And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors), emphasizing the temporal challenges facing humanity (Sin/Debt; Virtue/Vice; Prayer/Commandment/Consolation; Repentance/Conscience; and Faith, Belief). Part V (Chapter 21-25) covers the sixth and seventh petitions (And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one), brings the "trials of existence: war, violence, misery, fear, terror despair, evil, devils, the grave and decay." The final Part VI (Chapters 26-30), covers the closing Doxology (For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, / For ever and ever. Amen), involving the ways to "salvation through baptism, worship, the soul's love for Jesus," says Fischer (ibid.; xii), "Judgment (less emphasized these days than in Bach's world), and the mercy and the grace of God" and 'the world without end, amen."

Confluence of Reformation German, English Bibles

While seeking a Bachian structure for these 30 chapters, Fischer initially considered the Apostles and Nicene Creeds but chose the Lord's Prayer, given its wide-spread acceptance, which parallels his book's organizational structure, particularly from the similar perspectives of German from Gothic to Luther's 1534 Early New High German Bible, as well as the English from PIE to the Early Middle English of the King James Version of the Bible in 1611, with both having similar vernacular accessibility in linguistic form and content. Fischer's two goals (Ibid.; xii) are "to present the development of German in an intuition-friendly overview" and "enjoy puzzling out the words in one of the preeminent texts of western (and now world) culture." Beyond the etymologies and citations of Bach's words from his texts to illustrate them in context is the "broader historical, cultural, and theological context," says Fischer (Ibid.: xiii), with key words referenced to well-known texts of classical German literature, to the literature of Bach's time, and to established proverbs and idioms. Because "we observant sinners go on singing and sinning after Easter,"⁸ "when the church year gets pretty dull and the liturgical calendar" simply names the Sundays after Pentecost" (now Trinity) without themes or events, Fischer in his final chapters (31-340 returns to academia to "discuss Bach's language in more generic terms: its alphabet, vocabulary, grammar, and philology," as well as varied, pertinent addenda. Here is the Introduction synopsis (back cover): "The Introduction explains the history of German, with particular regard to language in music and to Luther's importance to Bach. Special chapters [31-34] describe Bach's alphabet (handwriting and fonts), his vocabulary (such as the many words for what the voice does), his grammar (structures where his German differs from. Modern German), and his phonology (pronunciation, Saxon dialect, rhyme patterns)." Fischer provides interesting insight into his work (Ibid.: xv): "The approach is etymological and philological, not (for God's sake) post-modern linguistic, since the ultimate focus of this book is on culture and religion." He concludes with the place and date of Portland, Oregon; October 31, 2017, fittingly, the "500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation."

Fischer's Introduction

"Before God could sing German, God had to speak and write German," says Fischer beginning his I(Ibid.: 1), with an appropriate quotation from Psalm 98:1, "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied" (Sing unto the Lord a new song),⁹ also this same incipit in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. "From a cosmic prospective," Fischer continues, "it is not inaccurate to say that it was Martin Luther who, by translating the Bible into German, showed God how to speak and write the language, and sing it to." It also was Luther who beyond the vernacular German for all German speakers, advocated that the learned Reformation pastor should be able to understand Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Perhaps Luther "himself had helped it [German] get a start with his hymns, which resound throughout the chorales of Bach." As a linguist, Fischer devotes the first part of his introduction to a history of the German language and a comparison to English, notably in the sound shifts (Ibid.: 4, 7) and the English adoption of many words from Latin in the early Middle Ages (Ibid.: 9), as well as the development of the Bible and songs in Old High German (Ibid.: 13f), particularly the battle and heroic epic songs in proto-Germanic language (Ibid.: 6), such as the "Song of Hildebrandt" c.839 AD. Whether directed to the divine or human, these epics had the musical ingredients in vocal performance and oral transmission (Ibid.: 15), with the Lied (song) having a shared root of "praise" with German (Lob) and Latin (laudare), as well as church visuals such as sculpture, paintings, and stained-glass windows (Ibid.: 17). The Christianizing of pagan peoples during the Middle Ages also led to the mix of sacred and profane in vocal music, as well as the "macaronic" text, "a mixture of phrases in Latin and the vernacular." The Middle High German (MHG) song embraced both mixtures of sacred and profane and macaronic languages of Latin and vernacular, the best known being Carmina Burana (Lieder aus Beuern), best known in Carl Orff's 1936 scenic cantata of selections from the 254 profane revelry songs, says Fischer (Ibid.).

The Greater Passion Play, Other Bachian Influences

The little-known sacred portion of the Carmina Burana 13th century manuscript involves religious plays: a short prologue to a Resurrection play and a long Passion play macaronic text of mostly Latin and a little German, "The Greater Passion Play" of 1982 (NY Times) as well as Christmas plays (Britannica) and a MHG translation of the first chapter of the Gospel of John, says Fischer (Ibid.: 18). In the 14th century, lengthy vernacular plays, often centering on the life and Passion of Jesus, began to be written in France, Germany and England," says the liner notes of Thomas Binkley and Clifford Flanigan, who prepared the 1982 performing version of "The Greater Passion Play."¹⁰ The sequence combines "pre-existing elements of liturgy, hymns, and sung recitation of the Gospel [harmony Passion] accounts," based on "twelfth-century religious assumptions," with the themes of salvation and the kingship of Jesus. Non-liturgical vernacular songs beginning about Easter and Christmas had developed from the 13th century onward, says Fischer (Ibid.). When "Martin Luther began to create his vernacular hymns, he had this corpus of texts and music to serve as one inspiration." The proto-Reformation Bohemian Brethren (Encylopedia.com) also impacted Luther, notably through Michael Weiße (BCW). At this same time (1526), Luther developed the Deutsche Messe (BCW). Another tradition is the Passion Play at Oberammergau, established in 1634, and scheduled for 2022 (YouTube). Thus Luther taught God to sing German and Fischer suggests that "Perhaps someone else will write an even longer study: When God Sang Hebrew, Greek and Latin (Ibid.; 19). "A chapter of it might be devoted to Bach's B-Minor Mass (BWV 232), which some see as the supreme work of Western Music."¹¹

Luther's Bible, Later Influences

The Introduction section, "Luther's German Bible: Language, Listeners, Liturgy" (Ibid.; 19-24), shows the importance of scripture in Luther's German "that had such fluency, elegance, and also down-to-earth vitality," says Fischer (Ibid.: 19), particularly his translation of the New Testament (1522) which "drove on the later Reformation and made it possible for churches to use the vernacular for worship, including sung music" (Ibid.: 20). "Reading the Bible in Luther's German is like reading all at once the King James Bible, Shakespeare, Chaucer, and some lust old folk songs and stories that have plenty of linguistic life in them. Luther knew his Latin and Greek, and he handled Hebrew, if with some help." Luther's liturgical music and the various forms of the Lutheran chorale were two of the most significant impact's on Bach, according to Robin A. Leaver.¹² In the next section, "German Becomes a Respectable Language" (Ibid.: 25-28), Fischer describes three Leipzig academic figures important in Bach's time: Christian Thomasius (Wikipedia) and the beginning of the Enlightenment in Germany (1687), Christian Wolff (Wikipedia) and pietism, and Johann Christoph Gottsched (BCW). Next and last is the section, "The Literary Form and Content of Bach's Librettos" (Ibid.; 28-35). There are three textual sources for Bach's sacred music: direct quotations from Scripture (Luther translation); borrowings from hymns, religious (madrigalian) poetry, says Fischer (Ibid.: 28). "True, too, many of Bach's texts, considered solely as poetry, are not pinnacles on the Parnassus of German literature," he acknowledges (Ibid.: 29). A "typical Bach cantata text ¹³ are much like that of English nursery rhymes," "greeting card verses," and "certain poems" with "Insistent rhythm and rhyme," he says (Ibid.: 33), typically the "default" rhymed couplet or stanza with paired rhymes (aabb), "in sequences of crossed rhymes (abab, cdcd, etc.), or in some variation such as ababcc, the Knittelvers [Wikipedia]-like rhythm and rhyme pattern are pervasive in Bach, and for good reason," he says (Ibid.; 34). "The predictable structure yields texts that are easy to remember" while "the incorporation of the simple rhymed verse into music led to transformations of great complexity and sublimity."

ENDNOTES

¹ Fischer book reviewed below, others: 1. Craig Smith, Bringing Bach's Music to Life: Essays on Bach's Cantatas, ed. Pamela Dellal (Hillsdale NY: Pendragon Press, 2019; copyright Emanuel Music); Amazon.com; 2. Robin A. Leaver, Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, and Theology (Abingdon UK: Routledge, 2021); Amazon.com; and 3. Noelle M. Haber, J. S. Bach's Material and Spiritual Treasures: A Theological Perspective (Woodbridge UK: Boydell Press, 2021); Amazon.com.
² William B. Fischer, When God Sang German: Etymological Essays about the Language of Bach‘s Sacred Music (Portland OR: amazon.com, 2017); Amazon.de: "Blick ins Buch," "Contents": (3f); two editions, color and black and white, prices vary; other purchasing options: CreateSpace.com, email ficherw2pdx.edu, William Fischer Press; all author proceeds to Portland Bach Cantata Choir, Bach Cantata Choir, BCW.
³ See "Blick ins Buch," Amazon.de, scroll to bottom.
⁴ A fascinating study of Indo-Eurropean influences on Western language and music is the 1993 film, "Latcho Drom" (Safe Journey), which chronicles "the Romani [gypsy] people's [1,000 year nomadic] journey from north-west India to Spain," "passing through Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and France," with milestone historical events, says Wikipedia (Wikipedia); the film (YouTube) begins (1:15) with a boy's chant-like song while leading a band of indigenous peoples. Some New Musicologists may denigrate the more recent domination of German classical music on the Western tradition while this shows the influence and infusion of indigenous music throughout established Western tradition; another is the byzantine tradition, such as the "Melodists of the Passion," eBay; Turkish music influenced the classical period, notably Mozart's operas, "Zaide" (eBay), and "The Abduction from the Seraglio."
⁵ The cover page to Part 1 illustrates the developing German and English languages in type faces of the Introduction and first petition of the Lord's Prayer (Ibid.: 37).
⁶ The de tempore (Proper time) begins the church year (BCW) and establishes a template found in many hymnals, beginning with Advent or Incarnation (Wikipedia) and continuing through the teaching and thematic second half of the Church year as found in Bach's favorite hymn-book, Das Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch of 1682 (Wikipedia: "Lyrics and settings included in the Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch"). Bach's template of hymns for the church year is found in his incomplete Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book) collection of chorale preludes ((Wikipedia) with its emphasis on the first half of the church year. Most of the missing hymns are listed in the second half of the church year (The Orgelbüchlein Project).
⁷ "Bach's Messiah Cycle," Bach Archiv Leipzig, June 11-15, BML; a new Robin A. Leaver article, "Bach's cantatas and the liturgical year," covers the Gospel and Epistle readings with Bach's vocal works in Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, and Theology (Abingdon UK: Routledge, 2021); Amazon.com).
⁸ When Luther in 1521 encouraged his followers "to love God and sin boldly," some thought it was instead to "sing boldly."
⁹ "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied" opens Bach's motet, BWV 225 (YouTube, BCW: "Discussions in the Week of November 20, 2016"), and opens the 1724 New Year's Cantata 190, YouTube, BCW.
¹⁰ "The Greater Passion Play" materials: summary, NY Times, and recording, Amazon.com, Marbecks Record Shop; and reconstruction, commentary, Oxford Academic: Early Music; and recording, AMG; textual analysis, Google Books
¹¹ See a recent, exemplary study, Exploring Bach's B-minor Mass, Yo Tomita, Robin A. Leaver, Jan Smaczny, eds. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), Amazon.com.
¹² See Robin A. Leaver, 1. Luther's Liturgical Music: Principles and Implications (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmann's Publishing, 2007), Amazon.com), major topics: "Musical Catechesis" teaching hymns, "Liturgico-Musical Hermeneutics" and Liturgico-Musical Forms," "Luther's Theology of Music," and "The Deutsche Messe from Luther to Bach"; and 2. Robin A. Leaver, The Whole Church Sings: Congregational Singing in Luther's Wittenberg (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmann's Publishing: 2017, Amazon.com, major topics: chorale bar form (Wikipedia, ballads, Leisen: 15-32), "Initial Repertory of Hymns, 1523-24" (65-80; folk hymns, new liturgical hymns, other hymns).
¹³ For a deeper understanding of Bach's cantata texts see the following Bach Mailing List Discussions: Bach Cantata Texts: Structure, Function, Message, Part 1; Leipzig Sacred Cantata Cycles 1 and 2: Structures, Librettists; Leipzig Sacred Cantatas: 1725 Interim (Trinity Time); Third Cantata Cycle: Librettists, Structures (BCW: December 8 to December 30), and Bach Texts as Cantata Mini-Cycles (BCW: Jan. 9, 2021).

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To come: Robin A Leaver's Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, and Theology