An Wasserflüssen Babylon

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"An Wasserflüssen Babylon"
Zahn 7663
TextWolfgang Dachstein
LanguageGerman
Based onPsalm 137
Published1525 (1525)

"An Wasserflüssen Babylon" (By the rivers of Babylon) is a Lutheran hymn by Wolfgang Dachstein, which was first published in Strasbourg in 1525. The text of the hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 137. Its singing tune, which is the best known part of the hymn and Dachstein's best known melody, was popularised as the chorale tune of Paul Gerhardt's 17th-century Passion hymn "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld". With this hymn text, Dachstein's tune is included in the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch.

Several vocal and organ settings of the hymn "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" have been composed in the 17th and 18th centuries, including short four-part harmonisations by Johann Hermann Schein, Heinrich Schütz and Johann Sebastian Bach. In the second half of the 17th century, Johann Pachelbel, Johann Adam Reincken and Bach's cousin, Johann Christoph, arranged settings for chorale preludes. Reincken's setting of "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" was elaborate and of great length; with one of Pachelbel's shorter settings as a chorale prelude, it forms the earliest extant transcriptions of Bach, copied on a 1700 organ tablature in Lüneburg when he was still a youth; remarkably, they were only unearthed in Weimar in 2005.

In 1720, at a celebrated organ concert in

BWV 653, part of his Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes
, written in 1739–1742.

History and context

Woodcut of Strasbourg from Nuremberg Chronicle, Hartmann Schedel, 1493: Cathedral (r) and St Thomas (l)
Martin Bucer, "Icones quinquaginta vivorum": engraving by Jean-Jacques Boissard
Title page of the 1541 Straßburger Gesangbuch

"An Wasserflüssen Babylon" is a Lutheran hymn written in 1525 and attributed to

Wolf Köpphel's Das dritt theil Straßburger kirchenampt.[1][5] This Strasbourg tract, which comprised the third part of the Lutheran service, is now lost.[5] Despite the lost tract from 1525, the Strasbourg hymn appeared in print in 1526 in Psalmen, Gebett und Kirchenordnung wie sie zu Straßburg gehalten werden and later.[5][6][7]

Wolfgang Egeloph Dachstein was born in 1487 in Offenburg in the Black Forest. In 1503 he became a fellow student with Martin Luther at the University of Erfurt. He entered the Dominican monastic order in around 1520 in Strasbourg, where he started a collaboration with Matthias Greiter, a friend and contemporary. Greiter was born in 1495 in Aichach, near Augsburg in Bavaria, where he attended a Latin school, before enrolling in theology at the University of Freiburg in 1510 and becoming a monk in Strasbourg in 1520.[8][9][10][11][12]

During the

Edward VI he became Regius Professor of Divinity.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

Dachstein's hymn "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" was rapidly distributed—it was printed in Luther's 1545 Babstsches Gesangbuch

Ashkenazi culture, there was also a Hebrew version of Dachstein's composition in the same period. [23][25]

Text

The Lutheran text of Dachstein first appeared in 1525.

Miles Coverdale provided an early English translation in the Tudor Protestant Hymnal "Ghostly Psalms and Spiritual Songs," 1539. These Lutheran versifications were written in continental Europe while Coverdale was in exile from England.[26][27][28]

German text

    English translation

1. An Wasserflüssen Babylon,
   Da saßen wir mit Schmerzen;
   Als wir gedachten an Sion,
   Da weinten wir von Herzen;
   Wir hingen auf mit schwerem Mut
   Die Orgeln und die Harfen gut
   An ihre Bäum der Weiden,
   Die drinnen sind in ihrem Land,
   Da mussten wir viel Schmach und Schand
   Täglich von ihnen leiden.

     At the ryvers of Babilon,
     There sat we downe ryght hevely;
     Even whan we thought upon Sion,
     We wepte together sorofully.
     For we were in soch hevynes,
     That we forgat al our merynes,
     And lefte of all oure sporte and playe:
     On the willye trees that were thereby
     We hanged up oure harpes truly,
     And morned sore both nyght and daye.

2. Die uns gefangen hielten lang
   So hart an selben Orten
   Begehrten von uns ein Gesang
   Mit gar spöttlichen Worten
   Und suchten in der Traurigkeit
   Ein fröhlichn Gsang in unserm Leid
   Ach lieber tut uns singen
   Ein Lobgesang, ein Liedlein schon
   Von den Gedichten aus Zion,
   Das fröhlich tut erklingen.

    They that toke us so cruelly,
    And led us bounde into pryson,
    Requyred of us some melody.
    With wordes full of derision.
    When we had hanged oure harpes alwaye,
    This cruell folke to us coulde saye:
    Now let us heare some mery songe,
    Synge us a songe of some swete toyne,
    As ye were wont to synge at Sion,
    Where ye have lerned to synge so longe.

3. Wie sollen wir in solchem Zwang
   Und Elend, jetzt vorhanden,
   Dem Herren singen ein Gesang
   Sogar in fremden Landen?
   Jerusalem, vergiss ich dein,
   So wolle Gott, der G'rechte, mein
   Vergessen in meim Leben,
   Wenn ich nicht dein bleib eingedenk
   Mein Zunge sich oben ane häng
   Und bleib am Rachen kleben.

    To whome we answered soberly:
    Beholde now are we in youre honde:
    How shulde we under captivite
    Synge to the Lorde in a straunge londe?
    Hierusalem, I say to the,
    Yf I remember the not truly,
    My honde playe on the harpe no more:
    Yf I thynke not on the alwaye,
    Let my tonge cleve to my mouth for aye,
    And let me loose my speache therfore.

4. Ja, wenn ich nicht mit ganzem Fleiss,
   Jerusalem, dich ehre,
   Im Anfang meiner Freude Preis
   Von jetzt und immermehre,
   Gedenk der Kinder Edom sehr,
   Am Tag Jerusalem, o Herr,
   Die in der Bosheit sprechen:
   Reiss ab, reiss ab zu aller Stund,
   Vertilg sie gar bis auf den Grund,
   Den Boden wolln wir brechen!

     Yee, above all myrth and pastaunce,
     Hierusalem, I preferre the.
     Lorde, call to thy remembraunce
     The sonnes of Edom ryght strately,
     In the daye of the destruction,
     Which at Hierusalem was done;
     For they sayd in theyr cruelnes,
     Downe with it, downe with it, destroye it all;
     Downe with it soone, that it may fall,
     Laye it to the grounde all that there is.

5. Die schnöde Tochter Babylon,
   Zerbrochen und zerstöret,
   Wohl dem, der wird dir gebn den Lohn
   Und dir, das wiederkehret,
   Dein Übermut und Schalkheit gross,
   Und misst dir auch mit solchem Mass,
   Wie du uns hast gemessen;
   Wohl dem, der deine Kinder klein
   Erfasst und schlägt sie an ein Stein,
   Damit dein wird vergessen![29]

     O thou cite of Babilon,
     Thou thy selfe shalt be destroyed.
     Truly blessed shall be that man
     Which, even as thou hast deserved,
     Shall rewarde the with soch kyndnesse
     As thou hast shewed to us gyltlesse,
     Which never had offended the.
     Blessed shall he be that for the nones
     Shall throwe thy chyldren agaynst the stones,
     To brynge the out of memorie.

Hymn tune

Below is the 1525 hymn tune by Wolfgang Dachstein.

{ \key f \major \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 2=72 \set Staff.midiInstrument = "english horn" \omit Score.TimeSignature \override Score.BarNumber #'transparent = ##t \cadenzaOn \relative c'' { \repeat unfold 2 { c2 d4 c a2 c bes4 bes a2 \bar"|" g2 a4 bes c2 bes4 a g2 f \bar"|" } f2 g4 a bes2 g a4 g f2 \bar"|" f2 a4 bes c2 d a4 bes c2 \bar"|" a2 c4 d c a bes2 a \bar"|" d2 d4 d g,2 c bes4( g) a2 g \bar"|" bes2 a4 g f2 g e4 (f) d2 c \bar"|" c2 f4 g a bes c2( a4 bes g2) f1 \bar "|."} }

Musical settings

16th century

Georg Rhau, the Thomaskantor: woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder c. 1542

Lupus Hellinck's four-part setting of "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" was published in 1544.[30][31] The treatment is motet-like: the first part of the hymn tune is presented by the soprano voice, however adorned with inserted supplemental melodies, after which the tenor voice presents the rest of the hymn tune, with similar embellishments.[32][33] Another four-part setting of the hymn, likewise first published in Georg Rhau's Newe Deudsche Geistliche Gesenge, is by Benedictus Ducis [choralwiki; de].[34][35][36][37] A three-part setting by this composer had already been published in 1541.[38] The 115 Guter newer Liedlein collection, published in 1544, contains an extended choral setting by Johannes Wannenmacher [de]: in this version, each stanza of the hymn is set for a different group of singers, from three to six voices.[39][40] Wannenmacher's two-part setting (bicinium) of the hymn was published in 1553.[41][42]

Sigmund Hemmel used the text in the 1550s in his four-part setting, with the cantus firmus in the tenor: Der gantz Psalter Davids, wie derselbig in teutsche Gesang verfasse was printed in 1569.[43]

17th century

Johann Hermann Schein, 1620, Leipzig
Musical Company, Johannes Voorhout, 1674: Reincken at the harpsichord with Buxtehude at the viol
Reincken's organ chorale "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" in a tablature copy once owned by Bach

A native of Nuremberg, Hans Leo Hassler was taught by Andrea Gabrieli in Venice, where he excelled as a keyboard player and consorted with his younger uncle, Giovanni Gabrieli. Hassler's 4-part setting of "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" was composed in 1608.[44]

SWV 242, in the Psalmen Davids, hiebevorn in teutzsche Reimen gebracht, durch D. Cornelium Beckern, und an jetzo mit ein hundert und drey eigenen Melodeyen ... gestellet, the Becker Psalter, Op. 5.[49][50]
Samuel Scheidt, composed two settings of the hymn, SSWV 505 and 570, for soprano and organ in the Tabulatur-Buch hundert geistlicher Lieder und Psalmen of 1650.[51]

Marienkirche, Lübeck from 1646 to 1668, Tunder initiated his Abendmusik there. Buxtehude later married Tunder's daughter and succeeded him as organist at Lübeck.[52]

The hymn also inspired organ compositions in Northern Germany. Organ

first cousin once removed), Johann Adam Reincken,[54] Johann Pachelbel[55] and Johann Sebastian Bach[56]
have been based on "An Wasserflüssen Babylon".

The 17th-century musical style of the

Buxtehude and Reincken are important exponents of the northern school and Pachelbel those from the centre.[57][58][59][60][61]

Johann Christoph Bach was born in

suspensions, as his Lamento "Ach, daß ich Wassers gnug hätte" for voice and strings.[62]

Born probably in 1643, Reincken was the natural successor to Scheidemann as organist at the

collegium musicum: as remarked by the 18th-century musician Johann Gottfried Walther, his famous, dazzling and audacious chorale fantasia "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" probably marked that succession; its vast dimension of 327 bars and 10 chorale lines, some broken into two, encompass a wide range of techniques, such as its "motet-like development, figuration of the chorale in the soprano, fore-imitation in diminished note values, introduction of counter-motifs, virtuoso passage work, double pedals, fragmentation, and echo effects." A detailed account of the history and musical structure of the chorale fantasia has been given in Rodgers (2013).[63][59][64][65][66]

The composer and organist Johann Pachelbel (1653–1707), born in

Predigerkirche in Erfurt, 1678–1690, Pachelbel was required to give a concert each year to show his musical skills; the same contract also prescribed preludes for chorales.[67] As outlined in Butt & Nolte (2001), Pachelbel's repertoire contained eight different types of chorale preludes, the last of which formed a "hybrid combination-form", one which he particularly favoured. The chorales on "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" were all of that type: a concise four-part fugue followed by a 3-part setting accompanying a slow cantus firmus in the soprano or bass; or a 4-part setting with the soprano in the cantus firmus.[68][69] The 2004 catalogue of Pachelbel's works, compiled posthumously by Jean M. Perreault, lists four chorale preludes based on the "An Wasserflüssen Babylon."[70][71][72][73]
Another organ work by Pachelbel based on the hymn was discovered in 2006 in the same manuscript as Reincken's chorale fantasia.[74][75][76] Its first recording, a performance by Jean-Claude Zehnder, was issued in 2007.[77]

18th century

The young

Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar by Michael Maul and Peter Wollny, and as such is believed to be one of Bach's oldest extant manuscripts.[78]
[79] In a posthumous article, Beißwenger (2017) wrote that, "Whether, however, Bach is the copyist of the source is not determined with certainty from the research conducted to date."[80]

Reincken, whose celebrated chorale fantasia had already acquired a reputation, repaid the debt to Bach. In Stinson (2001) there is a description of a concert in 1720, when Bach extemporised for "almost half an hour" on An Wasserflüssen Babylon at the organ loft of St. Catherine's Church, Hamburg. As recorded in his obituary, Bach "travelled to Hamburg, and allowed himself, in front of the Magistrat and many sophisticated people of the City, to be listened to for more than two hours on the beautiful organ at the Catherinenkirche with general amazement. The old organist at this church, Johann Adam Reincken, who then was almost a hundred years old, listened to him with special pleasure and particularly complimented him on the chorale "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" which our Bach treated and improvised for almost half an hour in a different way, very spaciously, as the brave ones among the Hamburg organists formerly used to play during the Saturday vespers. Reincken complimented him as follows: "I thought this kind of art had died out but I see that it is still alive in you"."[81][82][78]

Autograph manuscript of Bach's BWV 653

Bach composed his chorale prelude "An Wasserflüssen Babylon," BWV 653, as the third chorale of the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes It was written in Leipzig, around 1739–1742, in his full maturity. There were also two earlier settings composed in Bach's second period at Weimar in the 1710s, one in five parts with a double-pedal.[83][84] During his second period in Weimar, Bach had also envisaged expanding his collection of 46 chorale preludes in the miniaturist Orgelbüchlein. Empty manuscript pages were allocated for the projected 164 chorale preludes; as with "An Wasserflüssen Babylon," only the title appears.[85]

In BWV 653 the same melancholic sarabande-like music of the chorale prelude can be heard in Bach's closing movements of the monumental Passions: the increasing chromaticism and passing dissonances create a mood of pathos.[82] The mournful cantus firmus of BWV 653 is heard in the tenor voice en taille, accompanied by the two higher voices of the imitative ritornello with its steady crotchets and quavers in the pedals. The coda of BWV 653 shares some compositional features of Reincken's chorale prelude: the ornamental descending flourish at the end of Reincken's coda

can be compared with Bach's closing coda of BWV 653 with scales in

contrary motion
in the lower manual and pedal.

Coda of BWV 653

As Stinson writes, "It is hard not to believe that this correspondence represents an act of homage."[82] Despite being composed in Leipzig within the traditions of Thuringia, however, Bach's contemplative "mesmerising" mood is far removed from his earlier improvisatory compositions in Hamburg and Reincken's chorale fantasia: the later chorale prelude is understated, with its cantus firmus subtly embellished.[86][87]

4-part chorale of "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" by J.S. Bach, edition of C.P.E. Bach & F.W. Birnstiel, 1765

There was also a four-part harmonisation of the chorale,

C. P. E. Bach and Johann Kirnberger.[88][89] During that period, copies of the harmonisation have been found in G major and in A-flat major, both as "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" and as "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld": in the Breitkopf edition of the 1780s it appears as No. 5 in G major under the former title and as No. 308 in A-flat major under the latter title.[90][91] In Schemelli's 1736 hymnal, to which Bach collaborated, the key of the "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" hymn, No. 587, is given as "D", and that of seven other hymns sung to the same melody, including "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld", No. 259, as "G".[92][93][94]

19th century

The German composer of opera—

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor—and lieder, Otto Nicolai composed a 4-part setting of "An Wasserflüssen Babylon" in around 1832 as one of four songs in his op.17.[95]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Leahy 2011, pp. 37–38, 53.
  2. ^ Terry 1921, pp. 101–103.
  3. ^ a b Julian 1907.
  4. ^ Stinson 2001, p. 78
  5. ^ a b c d Zahn 1891.
  6. ^ Zahn 1893, p. 7
  7. ^ Trocmé-Latter 2015, pp. 255–265
  8. ^ Weber 2001, pp. 70–71
  9. ^ Brusniak 2001, pp. 121–122
  10. ^ Fornaçon, Siegfried 1957, p. 465
  11. ^ Müller, Hans-Christian 1966, pp. 41–42
  12. ^ Trocmé-Latter 2015, pp. 28–32, 90–96, 201
  13. ^ Trocmé-Latter 2015, pp. 28–32, 90–96, 201, 233–234.
  14. ^ Brusniak 2001, pp. 121–122.
  15. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    .
  16. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    .
  17. ^ Weber 2001, pp. 70–71.
  18. ^ Müller, Hans-Christian 1966, pp. 41–42.
  19. ^ Fornaçon, Siegfried 1957, p. 465.
  20. ^ Hopf 1946, pp. 1–16.
  21. ^ Krummacher 2001, pp. 194–195.
  22. ^ Matut 2011, II: p. 104.
  23. ^ a b Werner 2016, p. 205.
  24. ^ Axmacher & Fischer 2002.
  25. ^ Matut 2011, I: pp. 50–55, 64; II: pp. 101–108.
  26. ^ Terry 1921, pp. 101–102.
  27. ^ Coverdale 1846, pp. 571–572.
  28. ^ Trocmé-Latter 2015, pp. 237–239.
  29. ^ Modernised orthography, while the original wording is found in Philipp Wackernagel: Das deutsche Kirchenlied von der ältesten Zeit bis zu Anfang des 17. Jahrhunderts. Vol. III. Teubner, 1870, No. 135 (p. 98)
  30. BnF 14808371c
  31. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  32. ^ An Wasserflüssen Babylon, W162, by Lupus Hellinck: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  33. ^ Winterfeld 1843–1847, I, p. 197 and Appendix 19.
  34. ^ Newe Deudsche Geistliche Gesenge by Georg Rhau: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  35. ^ An Wasserflüssen Babylon a 4v by Benedictus Ducis in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
  36. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  37. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  38. ^ An Wasserflüssen Babylon a 3v by Benedictus Ducis in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
  39. ^ 115 Guter newer Liedlein published by Johannes Ott, An Wasserflüssen Babylon a 7 by Johannes Wannenmacher: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  40. ^ 115 guter neuer Liedlein published by Hans Ott in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
  41. ^ An Wasserflüssen Babylon a 2 by Johannes Wannenmacher: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  42. ^ An Wasserflüssen Babylon by Johannes Wannenmacher in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
  43. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  44. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  45. ^
    ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  46. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  47. ^ Johann Hermann Schein (1627). "Cantional, Oder Gesangbuch Augspurgischer Confession" (in German). Leipzig: Schein. pp. 325–32.
  48. Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch. Leipzig: Christoph Klinger, pp.706–709
  49. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  50. ^ Schütz 2013
  51. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  52. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  53. ^ Rose 2017, pp. 228–229
  54. ^ Beißwenger 2017, pp. 243–244
  55. ^ Beißwenger 2017, p. 242
  56. ^ Williams 2003, pp. 347–351
  57. ^ Schulenberg 2003, p. 2003
  58. ^ Schulenberg 2006, pp. 34–36
  59. ^ a b Collins 2005, p. 119
  60. ^ Krummacher 1986, pp. 157–171
  61. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  62. ^ Rose 2017, pp. 203, 224–226
  63. ^ Apel 1972, pp. 605–606
  64. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  65. ^ Reincken 2005.
  66. ^ Reincken 2008.
  67. ^ Butt 2004, pp. 119–202
  68. ^ Butt & Nolte 2001
  69. ^ Butt 2004, pp. 199–200
  70. ^ Perreault 2004, pp. 23–24.
  71. ^ Perreault 2004, p. 23.
  72. ^ An Wasserflüssen Babylon, P.17, An Wasserflüssen Babylon, P.18, An Wasserflüssen Babylon, P.20: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  73. ^ Perreault 2004, pp. 24, 381.
  74. ^ Adler 2006.
  75. ^ Maul & Wollny 2007, III. Johann Pachelbel: An Wasserflüssen Babylon.
  76. ^ Maul & Wollny 2008, III. Johann Pachelbel: An Wasserflüssen Babylon.
  77. ^ Zehnder 2007, 3. An Wasserflüssen Babylon.
  78. ^ a b Reincken 2008, pp. 9–13 Introduction in English.
  79. ^ Shannon 2012, p. 207.
  80. ^ See:
  81. ^ Bach 1998, p. 302
  82. ^ a b c Stinson 2001, pp. 78–80
  83. ^ Stinson 2001 BWV 653a dates from Bach's second period in Weimar 1712–1714. BWV 653b, with its double-pedal part, is considered to be the earliest version: it has five parts with the cantus firmus notated in the soprano voice.
  84. ^ Williams 2003, pp. 347–351 Several commentators, including Russell Stinson, Peter Williams and Robert Marshall, have questioned the authenticity of BWV 653b, particularly with its unprecedented double-pedal for that period.
  85. ^ Stinson 1999, pp. 2–9
  86. ^ Geck 2006, pp. 507–509
  87. ^ Williams 2003, pp. 348–349
  88. ^ "D-LEb Peters Ms. R 18 (chorale collection Dietel)". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2019-03-06.
  89. ^ 149 Chorales, D-LEb Peters Ms. R 18 (Bach, Johann Sebastian): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  90. ^ 371 Vierstimmige Choralgesänge (Bach, Johann Sebastian): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  91. ^ Wachowski 1983, pp. 68–69.
  92. ^ Schemelli 1736, pp. 401 (No. 587), 171 (No. 259).
  93. ^ Leaver 2014, pp. 15–33
  94. ^ Leaver 2017, p. 371
  95. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0
    . Retrieved 10 April 2018.

References

Further reading

External links

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