Cantata Ein Feste Burg example essay topic

The work of Martin Luther had a profound effect on Bachs chorale music. Just o give you a little background on Martin Luther, he and Bach were born in the same province of Eisleben. Luther was raised in a strict religious atmosphere of the Roman Catholic Church. Luther was terrified by thoughts of the wrath of God. He continually sought a means in finding inward peace. To achieve this goal, he entered an Augustinian Monastery in 1505.

Two years later he was ordained as a priest. During this time, Luther was devoted to the church but turned from philosophy to the Bible as a basis of his theological conclusions. These conclusions ultimately led him to combat some doctrines and practices of the church. He was officially branded a heretic and was excommunicated for his radical defiance of Papal authority.

Luther later publicly professed his implicit obedience to the church and boldly denied the absolute power of the Pope. One of the most significant events of the Renaissance was the religious movement of the 16th century. It divided the Western Church into two opposing factions and produced the various branches of the Protestant Church. Martin Luther was the man that directed the German formation. Luther himself composed chorales, the best known of which is Ein Feste Burg.

The melody is woven from Gregorian and other reminiscences and the words are a paraphrase from psalm 46. Ein Feste Burg is hailed as one of the greatest sources of insight in the Christians battle against Satan. During Luthers time, congregational chorales were performed in the church service without accompaniment. They were most often sung with the choir in unison and occasionally the congregation would sing the melody while the choir sang a simple polyphonic harmonization. However, the pip organ was used to preludize to give the initial pitch to the priest and choir. It was used with chorales in alternation with the choir, one verse played by the organ and the next sung.

The cantata Ein Feste Burg, is the result of a considerable revolution. It was written for choir, orchestra and continuo. Its earliest stages can be traced back to Bachs stay in Weimar, where it seems originally to have been intended for presentation on the third Sunday of Lent. It received greater elaboration with the addition of its stirring first movement and defiant fifth movement, when Bach revised it as a Reformation cantata.

Cantata 80 is a strong quadruple meter. Once this steady pulse is initiated, it does not diminish until the completion of the piece. The effect is once powerful, yet controlled. S pitta analyzed the fifth part, verse three of the cantata by saying: The orchestra plays a whirl of grotesque and wildly leaping figures, through which the chorus makes its way undistracted and never misled as grandiose and characteristic as it is possible to conceive the bold spirit of native vigor which called the German Reformation into being, and which still stirred and moved in Bachs art, has never found any artistic expression which would even remotely compare with this stupendous creation. After the chorus has sung the third verse, the tenor recitative issues a summoning to believe in what Christ has done because of his love for you.

All the language about the devil could mean that the Feind against whom this recitative is directed is Satan; but the emphasis on hearing the word of God and keeping it, makes it a consideration that this was written to be sung against the Pope and Roman Catholics. Ein Feste Burg served as a unifying element throughout the elaborate vocal works which characterized Protestant church service. Traditionally, at the close of an extended work, the cantata would unfold in simple four-part harmony. Originally it was simply sung in unison, but Bach changed it to be sung in four- part harmony with a soprano melody. As you can tell this piece has a very colorful and respected past. Ein Feste Burg not only represents the art and genius of Bach but it is also representative of a long tradition of German music.