 |
|
|
Gebruikte Luther een drinklied als basis voor
"Ein' feste burg ist unser Gott"?
Dit is een wijdverbreide misvatting, maar die is nergens
op gebaseerd.
Maarten Luther schreef zowel de woorden als de wijs voor
"Ein' feste burg ist unser Gott". Carl F. Schalk, een bekende
hymnoloog, schrijft in Luther on Music: Paradigms of Praise
(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1988) het volgende:
"Luther also set his hand to the task of writing hymn melodies. It
is generally acknowledged that at least three hymn tunes are from
Luther's own pen. "Wir glauben all an einen Gott", "Ein feste Burg,"
and the Sanctus hymn from the German Mass, "Isaiah dem Propheten das
geschah." Considering his own musical experience and training, and
living at a time when the Meistersinger tradition prescribed that
poet and tune writer were one and the same person, it would be strange
had he not attempted to give musical expression to his own texts"
(p. 26).
Leonard Woolsey Bacon, in The Hymns of Martin Luther Set to
Their Original Melodies (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1883), refers to a near contemporary of Luther's in reporting that
the tune is by Luther:
"It seems superfluous to add to this testimony the word of Sleidan,
the nearly contemporary historian, who says expressly concerning "Ein'
feste Burg" that Luther made for it a tune singularly suited to the
words, and adapted to stir the heart. If ever there were hymn and
tune that told their own story of a common and simultaneous origin,
without need of confirmation by external evidence, it is these" (p.
xix).
In contrast met deze duidelijke toewijzing van de wijs
aan Luther, kan men opmerken dat er wetenschappers zijn die hier vraagtekens
bij zetten. William Barclay Squire zegt bijvoorbeeld in zijn artikel
over Maarten Luther in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians,
5th ed., red. Eric Blom (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1959):
"The following are the hymn-tunes which have been ascribed
to Luther, though none with any degree of certainty: ... 'Ein' feste
Burg ist unser Gott'" (v. 5, p. 447). One should note, however, that
if Luther himself did not write the tune, absolutely no source is given
for the tune.
Het idee dat Luther voor deze wijs gebruik maakte van
drinklied stamt waarschijnlijk van een misverstand rond de "bar form."
van het lied. Het is makkelijk te zien dat"bar" een technische term
is, want het is precies hetzelfde woord in het Duits. InLiederkunde,
2. Teil, geredigeerd door Joachim Stalmann (Goettingen: Vandenhoeck
& Ruprecht, 1990), vinden we bijvoorbeeld de uitspraak: "Luther baut
einen neunzeiligen Bar" ["Luther bouwt een bar van negen regels" (p.
61).
Willi Apel in Harvard Dictionary of Music,
2nd ed., rev. and enl. (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University
Press, 1969) zegt het volgende op p. 80-81 over de "Bar form." Of particular
importance is the connection of the form with the Meistersingers, as
seen also in the first quotation from Carl Schalk:
"The name is derived from the medieval German term Bar, a poem consisting
of three or more Gesaetze (i.e., stanzas), each of which is divided
into two Stollen (section a) and an Absegang (section b). ... [The
Bar form] found its way into the repertory of the troubadours ...
and ultimately into that of the minnesingers and Meistersinger, who
called it Bar and used it for nearly all their lyrical songs. It is
equally common in the German ... Lutheran chorales and the various
compositions based on them (organ chorales, chorale cantatas, etc.).
... Of particular importance is the type of Bar in which the Stollen
recurs complete at the end of the Abgesang, thus leading to the form
a a b a. An appropriate designation for this is rounded Bar form.
Several hymn melodies show this form."
"A Mighty Fortress" has the "bar form" A
A B A'. One can diagram it thus:
A A mighty Fortress is our God,
A trusty Shield and
Weapon;
A He helps us free from ev'ry need
That hath us now o'ertaken.
B The old evil Foe Now means deadly woe;
Deep guile and great
might Are his dread arms in fight;
A' On earth is not his equal.
Ondanks de analyse van musicologen kan men stellen dat
Martin Luther "een goede melodie herkende als hij die hoorde" en die
dan opeiste en gebruikte voor zijn eigen doel. Dat Luther een drinkliedje
gebruikt zou hebben voor "Een sterke Burcht is onze God," past echter
niet in de stijl van de Hervormer. Dit wordt uitgebreid uit de doeken
gedaan door Richard C. Resch, "Music: Gift of God or Tool of the Devil,"
Logia 3 (Eastertide/April 1994) no. 2: 36, waar hij verwijst
naar Markus Jenny, Luthers geistliche Lieder und Kirchengesaenge
(Koeln: Boehlau Verlag, 1985):
"Martin Luther is one of the most misunderstood church
fathers with respect to the use of music in the church. Claims that
he used tavern tunes for his hymns are used in defense of a music practice
that freely accepts worldly associations. Such conclusions bear no resemblance
to Luther's writings on the subjects of worship and music. In fact,
Luther's actions teach us quite a different lesson. In his search for
the right tune for his text "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm' ich her" ["From
Heaven Above to Earth I Come"] , Luther learned about the power of worldly
associations. According to the Luther scholar Markus Jenny, Luther's
first wedding of this text with a tune was "a classic example of the
failure of a contrafacta." He set it to a secular dance song that begins,
"I step eagerly to this dance." The dance and tune were closely associated
with a Christmas wreath ceremony that was often held in taverns. Luther
found the secular associations to be so strong that he eventually wrote
a fresh tune that was free of worldly associations. He then indicated
on the manuscript that this new melody was to be used in the Sunday
service and with children. Luther's modification of this beloved hymn
is indication of his sensitivity to the harmful power of worldly associations
in the worship practice of the church."
-- Rev. Richard Lammert, Public Services Librarian Concordia
Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN
|
|
|
LITURGIE
&CETERA 
