Abel Grimmer, Der Sommer, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, 1607
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves [NRSV, Psalm 126:6].
Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Harvest Thanksgiving
October 7, 2012
Click to go immediately to:
1) The Music Programme Homepage
2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong
3) The Concert Calendar.
October 7, 2012
Click to go immediately to:
1) The Music Programme Homepage
2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong
3) The Concert Calendar.
Nun danket alle Gott
Now thank we all our God
The closing hymn and the organ postlude at Choral Eucharist this coming Thanksgiving Sunday are both versions of Nun danket alle Gott / Now thank we all our God.
Martin Rinkart
Now thank we all our God is a popular Christian hymn. It is a translation from the German Nun danket alle Gott, written circa 1636 by Martin Rinkart (1586-1649), which in turn was inspired by Sirach, chapter 50 verses 22-24, from the praises of Simon the high priest. It was translated into English in the 19th Century by Catherine Winkworth.
Martin Rinkart was a Lutheran minister who came to Eilenburg, Saxony at the beginning of the Thirty Years War. The
walled city of Eilenberg became the refuge for political and military
fugitives, but the result was overcrowding, and deadly pestilence and
famine. Armies overran it three times. The Rinkart home was a refuge for
the victims, even though Martin was often hard-pressed to provide for his
own family. During the height of a severe plague in 1637, Rinkart was
the only surviving pastor in Eilenberg, conducting as many as 50
funerals in a day. He performed more than 4000 funerals in that year,
including that of his wife.
Johann Crüger
During
this time, Rinkart was a prolific hymn writer. In Rinkart's "Jesu
Hertz-Buchlein" (Leipzig, Germany: 1636), the hymn appears under the
title "Tisch- Gebetlein," or a short prayer before meals. The exact date
of Nun danket alle Gott is in question, but it is known that it was widely sung by the time the Treaty of Westphalia was signed in 1648.
The tune for Now thank we all our God is the Leuthen Chorale and is attributed to Johann Crüger and written circa 1647.
After the Battle of Leuthen in the Seven Years' War, a soldier of the victorious Prussian army started to sing Nun Danket alle Gott, and soon all 25,000 joined in the hymn.
It is often used in Christian weddings and other joyous religious ceremonies, and in Germany it is sung on occasions of national thanksgiving.
Johann Sebastian Bach
It is used by Johann Sebastian Bach in five compositions.
Cantatas:
Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata 79, Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild, with performances by John Eliot Gardiner, Gustav Leonhardt, and Pieter Jan Leusink.
Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata 192, Nun danket alle Gott, with performances by John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and Pieter Jan Leusink.
Chorales:
BWV 252, performance by the Stuttgart Gachinger Kantorei, Stuttgart Bach Collegium, Helmuth Rilling conducting [text] [BNQ] [BM] (info)
BWV 386, performance by the Stuttgart Gachinger Kantorei, Stuttgart Bach Collegium, Helmuth Rilling conducting (followed by Chorale Prelude, BWV 657; Gerhard Gnann, organ) [text] [BNQ] [BM] (info)
Chorale Prelude, BWV 657:
Performance by Marie-Claire Alain (instrument not identified) [listen]
Performance by James Kibbie on the 1755 Gottfried Silbermann/Zacharias Hildebrandt organ, Kathedrale, Dresden, Germany [listen]
Felix Mendelssohn
The now-standard harmonisation was devised by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840 when he adopted the hymn, sung in the now-standard key of F major and with its original German lyrics, as the chorale to his Second Symphony, known as the Lobgesang or Hymn of Praise.
Felix Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 2 "Lobegesang," Edith Mathis / Liselotte Rebmann / Werner Hollweg, Chöre Der Deutschen Oper Berlin / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert Von Karajan conducting. [listen to entire symphony]
Chorale (movement 8) [listen]
Nun danket alle Gott
mit Herzen, Mund und Händen,
der sich in aller Not
will gnädig zu uns wenden,
der so viel Gutes tut;
von Kindesbeinen an
uns hielt in seiner Hut,
und allen wohlgetan.
Lob, Ehr’ und Preis sei Gott,
dem Vater und dem Sohne
und seinem heil’gen Geist
im höchsten Himmelsthrone.
Lob dem dreiein’gen Gott,
der Nacht und Dunkel schied
von Licht und Morgenrot,
ihm danket unser Lied.
Organ works:
Karg-Elert composed a 'Marche Triomphale' based on the hymn.
Sigfrid Karg-Elert, performed by Alexander Därr at the Sauer Organ in St. Marien, Mühlhausen [YouTube]
Choral:
Choral:
English Translation
Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!
All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!
All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
[All with the assistance of Wikipedia.]
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Charles-Marie Widor
The organ voluntaries for evensong this coming Sunday are from Charles-Marie Widor, Organ Symphony No. 2.
The 10 organ symphonies by Widor performed by Hans Ole Thers on the 1879-1986 Olsen / Marcussen and Søn organ of the Helligåndskirken, Copenhagen, are available for free online listening by the Naxos Music Library. Check with your librarian. Cardholders of the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, ready to open their account online, click here: [BNQ]; cardholders of the Bibliothèques de Montréal click here: [BM].
Performance of Charles-Marie Widor, Symphonies 5 and 9, by John Grew on the 1915/1999 Casavant organ of the Church of Très-St-Nom-de-Jésus, Montreal. [BNQ] [BM] (info)
Performance of Widor, Symphonies 5 and 6, by Olivier Latry at the Cavaillé-Coll organ of Notre-Dame, Paris [musicMe]
Selections from the organ music by Widor performed by Thomas Trotter at the Cavaillé-Coll organ of Saint François-de-Sales, Lyon, France [musicMe]
Performance of Widor, Symphonies 1, 2, 3, and 4 by Joris Verdin at the Cavaillé-Coll organ of Royaumont. [musicMe]
Selections from the organ music by Widor performed by
Marie-Claire Alain at the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Church of St-Germain-en-Laye (Symphonies 3,4,6,9) and at the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Abbey of Saint-Étienne, Caen
(Symphonies 1,2,5). [musicMe]
(Symphonies 1,2,5). [musicMe]
Performance of Widor, Symphonies 5 and 6, by Joseph Nolan at the Cavaillé-Coll organ of La Madeleine, Paris [musicMe]
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1990 Guilbault-Thérien, Opus 35, organ of the Grand Séminaire, Montreal
Le FESTIVAL DES
COULEURS de l'orgue
français
18th season, autumn 2012
The Sundays of October 2012 at 3:00 pm
October 7: Yves-G. Préfontaine
October 14: Érik Reinart
October 21: Jean-Willy Kunz
October 28: Jean-Luc Perrot
The recitals are free, thanks to the support of Rona.
The Chapel of the Grand Séminaire du Montréal
2065 Sherbrooke Ouest
(Métro
Guy-Concordia, autobus 24)
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Performance by Georges Delvallée on the 3-manual 1888 Puget organ of Nôtre Dame de la Dalbade, Toulouse
Mass of the 19th Sunday after Pentecost
Prelude for the Introit [YouTube]
Mass of the 19th Sunday after Pentecost
Prelude for the Introit [YouTube]
Alleluiatic Choral No. 4 [YouTube]
Click for the entire performance of L'Orgue mystique by Georges Delvallée.
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Bach Cantatas for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity:
Andrei Rublev, Christ in majesty, Tretyakov Gallery, Mocow, 1408
Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn / Lord Christ, the only Son of God
Cantata 96, with performances by Kuijken, Leusink, Richter and Rilling.
Click to go to Johann Sebastian Bach, Gott soll allein mein Herze haben / God alone should possess my heart, Cantata 169, with performances by Harnoncourt, Leusink, Menuhin, Sándor and Scholl.