"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" (originally written in the
German language with the title "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott") is one of the best known
hymns by the
Protestant ReformerMartin Luther, a prolific
hymnwriter. Luther wrote the words and composed the
hymn tune between 1527 and 1529.[1] It has been translated into English at least seventy times and also into many other languages.[1][2] The words are mostly original, although the first line paraphrases that of
Psalm 46.[3]
History
"A Mighty Fortress" is one of the best known hymns of the
Lutheran tradition, and among
Protestants more generally. It has been called the "Battle Hymn of the
Reformation" for the effect it had in increasing the support for the Reformers' cause.
John Julian records four theories of its origin:[1]
Heinrich Heine: "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" was sung by Luther and his companions as they entered
Worms on 16 April 1521 for the
Diet;
K. F. T. Schneider: it was a tribute to Luther's friend Leonhard Kaiser, who was executed on 16 August 1527;
The earliest extant hymnal in which it appears is that of Andrew Rauscher (1531). It is believed to have been included in Joseph Klug's Wittenberg hymnal of 1529, of which no copy remains. Its title was Der xxxxvi. Psalm. Deus noster refugium et virtus.[1] Before that it is believed to have appeared in Hans Weiss Wittenberg's hymnal of 1528, also lost.[5] This evidence supports Luther having written it between 1527 and 1529, because Luther's hymns were printed shortly after he wrote them.[citation needed]
Tune
Luther composed the melody, named Ein feste Burg from the text's first line, in
meter 87.87.55.56.7 (
Zahn No. 7377a). This is sometimes denoted "rhythmic tune" to distinguish it from the later isometric variant, in 87.87.66.66.7-meter (Zahn No. 7377d), which is more widely known and used in Christendom.[6][7] In 1906 Edouard Rœhrich wrote, "The authentic form of this melody differs very much from that which one sings in most Protestant churches and figures in (
Giacomo Meyerbeer's) The Huguenots. ... The original melody is extremely rhythmic, by the way it bends to all the nuances of the text ..."[8]
While 19th-century
musicologists disputed Luther's authorship of the music to the hymn, that opinion has been modified by more recent research; it is now the consensus view of musical scholars that Luther did indeed compose the famous tune to go with the words.[citation needed]
Reception
Heinrich Heine wrote in his 1834 essay Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland, a history of emancipation in Germany beginning with the
Reformation, that Ein feste Burg was the
Marseillaise of the Reformation.[9] This "imagery of battle" is also present in some translations, such as that of Thomas Carlyle (which begins "A safe stronghold our God is still").[10] In Germany, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" was historically also used as a patriotic paean, which is why it was regularly sung at nationalistic events such as the
Wartburg Festival in 1817.[11] This patriotic undertone of the hymn emanates from its importance for the Reformation in general, which was regarded by the
Protestants not only as a religious but as a national movement delivering Germany from
Roman oppression.[12] Furthermore, the last line of the fourth stanza of the German text, "Das Reich muss uns doch bleiben," which is generally translated into English as "The Kingdom's ours forever," referring to the Kingdom of God, may also be interpreted as meaning the
Holy Roman Empire must remain with the Germans.
The song is reported to have been used as a battle anthem during the
Thirty Years War by forces under
King Gustavus Adolphus, Lutheran
king of Sweden. This idea was exploited by some 19th-century poets, such as
Karl Curths, although there exists no primary source which supports this.[13] The hymn had been translated into Swedish already in 1536, presumably by
Olaus Petri, with the
incipit, "Vår Gud är oss en väldig borg".[14] In the late 19th century the song also became an anthem of the early
Swedish socialist movement.
In addition to being consistently popular throughout
Western Christendom in Protestant hymnbooks, it is now a suggested hymn for
Catholic Masses in the U.S.,[15] and appears in the Catholic Book of Worship published by the Canadian Catholic Conference in 1972.[16] The eventful history and reception of A Mighty Fortress Is Our God has been presented interactively in
Lutherhaus Eisenach’s revamped permanent exhibition since 2022.[17]
English translations
The first English translation was by
Myles Coverdale in 1539 with the title, "Oure God is a defence and towre". The first English translation in "common usage" was "God is our Refuge in Distress, Our strong Defence" in J.C. Jacobi's Psal. Ger., 1722, p. 83.[1]
An English version less literal in translation but more popular among Protestant denominations outside Lutheranism is "A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing", translated by Frederick H. Hedge in 1853. Another popular English translation is by
Thomas Carlyle and begins "A safe stronghold our God is still".
Most North American
Lutheran churches have not historically used either the Hedge or Carlyle translations. Traditionally, the most commonly used translation in Lutheran congregations is a composite translation from the 1868 Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book ("A mighty fortress is our God, a trusty shield and weapon"). In more recent years a new translation completed for the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship ("A mighty fortress is our God, a sword and shield victorious") has also gained significant popularity.
Ralph Vaughan Williams used the tune in his score for the film 49th Parallel, most obviously when the German U-boat surfaces in Hudson Bay shortly after the beginning of the film.[citation needed]Flor Peeters wrote an organ chorale setting "Ein feste Burg" as part of his Ten Chorale Preludes, Op. 69, published in 1949. More recently it has been used by band composers to great effect in pieces such as Psalm 46 by
John Zdechlik and The Holy War by
Ray Steadman-Allen.[citation needed] The hymn also features in Luther, an opera by Kari Tikka that premiered in 2000.[21][22] It has also been used by African-American composer
Julius Eastman in his 1979 work Gay Guerrilla, composed for an undefined number of instruments and familiar in its recorded version for 4 pianos. Eastman's use of the hymn can arguably be seen as simultaneously a claim for inclusion in the tradition of "classical" composition, as well as a subversion of that very same tradition.[23]
Mauricio Kagel quoted the hymn, paraphrased as "Ein feste Burg ist unser Bach", in his oratorio Sankt-Bach-Passion, which tells
Bach's life and was composed for the tricentenary of Bach's birth in 1985.
Nancy Raabe composed a concertato on the hymn using organ, assembly, trumpet, and tambourine, the only such composition by a female composer.[24]
^
abcdefJulian, John, ed., A Dictionary of Hymnology: Setting forth the Origin and History of Christian Hymns of All Ages and Nations, Second revised edition, 2 vols., n.p., 1907, reprint, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1957, 1:322–25
^W. G. Polack, The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal, Third and Revised Edition (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1958), 193, No. 262.
^
abMarilyn Kay Stulken, Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981), 307–08, nos. 228–229.
^E. Rœhrich, Les Origines du Choral Luthérien. (Paris: Librairie Fischbacher, 1906), 23 (italics original): "La forme authentique de cette mélodie diffère beaucoup de celle qu'on chante dans la plupart des Églises protestantes et qui figure dans les Huguenots". ... La mélodie originelle est puissamment rythmée, de manière à se plier à toutes les nuances du texte ..."
^Psalmer och sånger (Örebro: Libris; Stockholm: Verbum, 1987), Item 237, which uses
Johan Olof Wallin's 1816 revision of the translation attributed to Petri. The first line is "Vår Gud är oss en väldig borg."
^Volker Tarnow. "Luther lebt: Deutsche Momente" in Die Welt, 5 October 2004
^Ryan Dohoney, "A Flexible Musical Identity: Julius Eastman in New York City, 1976-90," in Gay Guerrilla, ed. Renée Levine Packer and Mary Jane Leach (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2015), 123.
Commission on Worship of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Lutheran Worship. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1982. ISBN
Julian, John, ed. A Dictionary of Hymnology: Setting forth the Origin and History of Christian Hymns of all Ages and Nations. Second revised edition. 2 vols. n.p., 1907. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1957.
Pelikan, Jaroslav and Lehmann, Helmut, eds. Luther's Works. Vol. 53, Liturgy and Hymns. St. Louis, Concordia Publishing House, 1965.
ISBN0-8006-0353-2.
Polack, W. G. The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1942.
Rœhrich, E. Les Origines du Choral Luthérien. Paris: Librairie Fischbacher, 1906.
Stulken, Marilyn Kay. Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981.
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