Chorales BWV 250-438 - General Discussions

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Chorales BWV 250-438

General Discussions – Part 2

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Bach chorale question answered

Patsy Moore wrote (October 16, 2001)
Thanks to all who offered help in my search for more information about the Bach chorale Jesu, du mein liebstes Leben.

I'm now pretty convinced that Bach was harmonising Verse 3, which John Howell kindly supplied via Orchestralist (mailing list mainly for conductors).

It makes sense of Bach's harmony. If anyone would like to see the 3 verses underlaid to the chorale I've now got it in Finale 2000c and could send it in that form, or as a PostScript file which I think can be printed without needing Finale.

John's source was "The Four-Part Chorals of J. S. Bach" by Charles Sanford Terry (Oxford U Press, 1929, 1964), which he recommends as a reference for Bach's chorale settings. It may be out of print.

BWV 250 – 438

Thomas Braatz wrote (October 13, 2001):
This is not an attempt to provide more competition for Kirk, but I could not resist the temptation to review 185 BWV numbers in one fell swoop, after only being able to discuss one BWV number each week. I have tried to use Kirk's format.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

Chorales BWV 253 - 438 [ 219.29]
Vol 82 Chorales BWV 253 - 301 [53.04]
Vol 83 Chorales BWV 302 - 342 [53.57]
Vol 84 Chorales BWV 342 - 388 [55.14]
Vol 85 Chorales BWV 389 - 438 [57.10]

The Berlin Radio Choir (Rundfunkchor Berlin) under the direction of Robin Gritton
Rec: 1998-1999, Berlin

Teldec BACH 2000 (available separately)

Vol 82 8573-81135
Vol 83 8573-81134
Vol 84 8573-81133
Vol 85 8573-81132

This relatively unknown choir (not to be confused with the choral excellence produced by some of the German radio and university choirs 'before the wall came down' ) sounds more like an average church choir, which is very unfortunate because these 4-part harmonizations by Bach deserve a much better rendition than what is offered here. The liner notes by Wolfgang Marx give a false impression since no effort was made to include recent scholarship (NBA) that had been available for eight years before this recording was started. In addition, the notes are spread over all four volumes in piecemeal fashion, which also makes no sense for the listener because information for BWV 253 is the essentially the same information as for BWV 438.

As a listener with more than simply a passing interest in Bach, one would expect at the least to hear all of the four parts on an equal basis, but is this what you will hear in these recordings? No. One would also wish to hear voices that are reasonably matched. This would not be expecting too much. Most distressing is the fact that these renditions are unintentionally soporific.

This may be due to a syndrome that I will try to explain with a true story (probably embellished somewhat by the professor who related this to a graduate class which I attended). In order to explain the 'punch-line' before you hear it -- you might otherwise miss the intended effect –allow me to digress somewhat into the experiences of the great dictionary makers. There are always two that come to mind: The OED (The complete version of the Oxford English Dictionary) and the equivalent dictionary of the German language begun by Jakob Grimm (yes, the older brother of Wilhelm Grimm the fairy-tale collector.) The procedures, quite laborious, used in the middle of the 19th century, involved finding the use of each word in context, copying it out with its context on a slip of paper indicating the source, organizing the slips in 'shoeboxes,' organizing them once again according to chronology and semantic changes, etc. etc. It took well over a century for the German dictionary to be completed, and as soon as it was (the OED is faced with the same problem), the process begins all over again with all the printed material that has appeared since the first fascicles were published. If you were a subscriber you would receive a fascicle covering perhaps all the words from 'fa' to 'fe.' Getting more to the point: The Grimm brothers were very different, yet they shared a common interest in the German language, albeit that Jacob's greatest interests were more linguistically oriented (study of Sanskrit, Indo-Germanic, grammar) while Wilhelm's Romantic soul felt much happier in the world of fairy-tales. Here's the story: Both brothers were professors at a university (what a wonderful place with all those grad students that would be 'willing' to help with the dictionary project.) Imagine the scene in a room where the Grimm brothers had assembled these grad students in order to assign which part of the alphabet would be their responsibility. The grad students were nervous and anxious because they knew how much time they would have to devote to this project. There would be no more time for leisure activities. It was almost like having a sentenced pronounced on you. Jakob, who was in charge here, began assigning the portions of a letter to some of the students present, Then he turned to Wilhelm, and this was very surprising, as he pointed his finger at him and spoke the following words very slowly: "Und Du, Wilhelm, machst 'D'!" ["And you, Wilhelm, will do the letter 'D'"] He was 'rewarded' with having the entire letter 'D' all to himself! This was the equivalent to a death sentence, and the exact opposite of that which he truly loved doing.

As the Teldec officials were looking about to find a group that would record all of these Bach 4-part chorales, they found Robin Gritton, who then turned to this professionally-paid choir and stated: "We are doing ALL of the Bach 4-part chorales!" [Now allowing my imagination to spin this out even more:] "Every morning, right after you come to work here, we will do one or two of these chorales as a warm-up." [Response:] "Oh no, do we really have to. We aren't really awake yet at that time of the morning." The director answers: "I promise you, that you can drink your coffee while we record, and after that we'll do some music that you'll enjoy singing." "OK, but do the chorales all have to be sung the same way?" "I'll think about that. I know I will come up with something."

This is what Robin Gritton came up with: Frequently, if the chorale is not of the barform (the 'Stollen' is repeated before the 'Abgesang' is sung) then one voice part or all voices in unison will sing the melody while the chest organ made by Henk Klop, 1992) attempts to fill in the harmonic structure with an indefinable, muffled sound, so that the vocal lines existing in the other parts are lost or so completely de-emphasized that even Mozart would have had difficulty trying to write out the parts after hearing them (the Allegri [his 'Miserere'] fiasco in Rome -- Mozart, at age 14, copied down all five parts from memory after hearing the performance - it was forbidden by papal decree to disseminate copies of this work.) Now if this were only a typical German hymnal with only the melody indicated, this might be permissible, but these are 4-part harmonizations by Bach, many of them rarely heard! A listener has the right to hear all four parts clearly. Why is this so difficult to accomplish? I would much prefer to hear the Swingle Singers doing these chorales with less than perfect German pronunciation than a choir that, for the most part (there are a few exceptions) sings only some of the chorales with four parts and then does so with an attitude of disinterest that is conveyed to the listener. In addition, the sopranos sing with a 'warbling' sound that keeps the listener guessing which note is really being sung. If this choir had included the final chorale to "Wachet auf!", it would most likely have sounded just like all the rest of the chorales on these recordings: not exciting and not very interesting. I have not even mentioned that many of these 4-part harmonizations very likely were sung to a later verse of the chorale, but in these recordings you will hear only the first verse. Much research will still have to be done here.

For the most part, these chorale renditions, if there isnothing better available, could be of some interest, but I believe that they leave a false impression of what they really could sound like.

Kirk McElhearn wrote (October 13, 2001):
< Thomas Braatz wrote: For the most part, these chorale renditions, if there is nothing better available, could be of some interest, but I believe that they leave a false impression of what they really could sound like. >
Interesting comments, Tom. I have the set as well; it was the only box of the Teldec set I bought, because those works were not widely available. I kind of liked them, but never listened closely.

I'll go back to them soon, in light of your comments, and compare that recording with the Brilliant version.

Riccardo Nughes wrote (October 13, 2001):
While Teldec and Brilliant Classics decided to publish a serie of CD's featuring the Kirnberger'chorales, Hänssler records realized another kind of musical project. Here are some excerpts from Elisabeth Graf's booklet notes:

"Making a complete recording of Bach's ouvre faces us with the same problem as the complete edition of the past. All works and their chorales are available, a good 180 arrangements remain. As we wanted this to be more than just an audio reference book, we had develop an editing guideline of our own for the present recording. And neither the original order of the Breitkopf Collection-lacking any indication of origin and purpose-nor the alphabetical order ot he 1892 Bach edition, also used by the BWV, were very helpful there.
So if this is not an audio reference book, could it be an audio hymnbook? Taking a look at hymnbooks of Bach's day (i.e the New Leipziger Gesangbuch by G.Vopelius, 1682) we find clues as to the purpose of the chorales: for different Sundays and holidays of the church year, for the service, for the course of the day, for personal devotion, for joy and woe in the life of a christian. We find similar categories in the hymnbook of G.C.Schemelli, printed in Leipzig in 1736 with the contribution of J.S.Bach who addede 69 newly composed and rearranged hymns.
What we wanted to do was to arrange the 4-part chorales settings according to these hymn schedules; and it was an obvious chance to add works from Schemelli's hymnbook, because many of the 4-part chorales are arrangements of these hymns, which were originally set for singing voice and continuo only. The vocal origin of all hymn arrangements is uncontested, therefore they are performed in our recording in the way familiar to us from cantatas, passions, etc.; with a choir and colla parte instruments. For the selection of verses, we always used the first verse of hymn. Where there are several arrangements or texts for the same choorale, we tried to explore composition and harmonic characteristics by our verse selection. And we were only able to select a very limited number of the many verses of hymns from Schemelli's hymnbook.
Inbetween you'll find chorale arrangements for the organ.On the one hand, they complete the repertoire where important hymns are missing (because all the existing settings are parts of cantatas, etc..) e.g Nun komm den Heiden Heiland at the beginning of the church year, On the other hand, they break up the order and stress the importance of the "chorale" in bach's entire ouevre.
"Finally, I can tell the lovers of sacred songs in general that this collection will make up a complete book of chorales" (C.P.E.Bach in the preface of the Breitkopf edition of 1784) : a book of chorales for Johann Sebastian!

So Hänssler has published 9 tematic cd's : Advent und Weihnachten ; Passion; Ostern, Himmelfahrt, Pfingsten, Trinitatis ; Deutsche Messe ; Kleinere Feste, Psalmlieder ; Am morgen, Von Lob und Dank, Vom Christlichen Leben; Von Geduld und Gelassenheit, Jesuslieder ; Von Gottvertrauen, Kreuz und Trost, Von Rechtfertigung und Busse, Von Sterben, Tod und Ewigkeit, Am Abend.

Performers : Gachinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, dir.Helmuth Rilling
various soloists featuring : S.Rubens, I.Danz, J.Taylor, A,Schmidt, C.Pregardien.

I strongly recommend these CD's especially now that Hänssler is going to reprint them in a box at special price. The listening of these CD's is really interesting and moving. In the past I was disappointed with the CPO 2 CD's box set dedicated to the Schemelli Gesangbuch, featuring B.Schlick & B. van Asperen : good work, but unavoidably boring. Truly, I think that the only utility of recordings like that or the Teldec/Brilliant Classics sets is to fill what you're missing in "your" BWV. Some of the 4-part chorales are also in one of the cd's in the Gustav Leonhardt Edition, sung by 4 singers only and not by a choir : they're simple little wonderful gems.

Thomas Braatz wrote (October 14, 2001):
< To Riccardo who quoted from the Hänssler Complete Bach Series: For the selection of verses, we always used the first verse of hymn. >
More effort and research will be necessary to discover the connections to later verses used in the lost cantatas.

< "Finally, I can tell the lovers of sacred songs in general that this collection will make up a complete book of chorales" (C.P.E.Bach in the preface of the Breitkopf edition of 1784) : a book of chorales for Johann Sebastian! >
I think the evidence proves that CPE was more interested in lining his pocket than hoping that the Ghost of Johann Sebastian would hear these wordless chorales. They were printed as harmonization exercises and unfortunately this tradition has haunted us until the present day.

< So Hänssler has published 9 tematic CD's : Advent und Weihnachten; Passion; Ostern, Himmelfahrt, Pfingsten, Trinitatis; Deutsche Messe; Kleinere Feste, Psalmlieder; Am morgen, Von Lob und Dank, Vom Christlichen Leben; Von Geduld und Gelassenheit, Jesuslieder; Von Gottvertrauen, Kreuz und Trost, Von Rechtfertigung und Busse, Von Sterben, Tod und Ewigkeit, Am Abend. >
This thematic approach makes sense. I don't think that many listeners will want to hear these in their BWV order unless the performances are superb.

< Some of the 4-part chorales are also in one of the CD's in the Gustav Leonhardt Edition, sung by 4 singers only and not by a choir : they're simple little wonderful gems. >
If these are sung well, they should be a pleasure to hear. One of the best examples of chorale singing that sends chills up and down my spine is found on volume 4 of the Suzuki series, the final chorale of BWV 165, track 14, done OVPP (35 seconds in duration). I would love to hear all the chorales BWV 253-438 done in this manner. Somehow the usual Gächinger Kantorei choir sound does not satisfy me entirely (too many individual voices stand out with too much vibrato).

Thanks for sharing this information. It was very helpful.

Bach chorales

Bob Engstrom wrote (October 27, 2001):
Hello........can anyone direct me to a good resource for English translations of the texts for the so-called "Bach chorales"? I have found some excellent sources for the harmonizations, such as "371 Harmonized Chorales" collected by Albert Riemenschneider circa 1941, but have yet to find a comprehensive source for their texts......either German OR English. I realize there is an almost countless variety of texts for many of the more popular settings, but would be happy with only one or two verses of each......of all the known harmonizations. Am I being unrealistic?

Evelyn Lim wrote (October 29, 2001):
[To Bob Engstrom] Actually, for the organ chorales (Orgelbuechlein), the edition by Robert Clark has the hymns translated into English. MIght want to check this out.

Chorale Help

Scott M. Hyslop wrote (January 30, 2002):
Can anyone tell me if there is anything as simple as a recording of Bach Chorales - I am looking for just a simple four-part choral rendition.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Andrew Oliver wrote (Jaanuary 30, 2002):
[To Scott M. Hyslop] These are included as part of the Brilliant Classics Bach Edition series. The box is Volume 23 and its serial number is 99575. It contains four CDs featuring chorales from the collection of four-part chorales BWV 253-438, and separate cantata chorales. It was recorded by the Nordic ChaChoir with soloists of the Freiburger Barockorchester, conducted by Nicol Matt, in 1999.

Charles Francis wrote (January 31, 2002):
[To Andrew Oliver] For an alternative possibility try this link:
http://www.collegiumusa.com/hanssler_main.html

The CD's come with full text and the performances are recent, but somewhat old-fashioned, with large choir and female singers carrying the chorale melody. The chorales are performed with a colla parte instrumental accompaniment and are classified according to the pattern of the 'Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch' by Gottfried Vopelius (1682). Its essentially Rilling's attempt to provide a complete Bach hymn book on CD.

Rianto Pardede wrote (January 31, 2002):
[To Charles Francis] Along with Brilliant Classics's Bach Chorales, I also bought "Beautiful Chorales & Choruses of JS Bach" conducted by Rilling on Hänsler. It is very good to my untrained ears. So, I'm very interested hear this one.

Anyway, could you or anybody please explain what "a colla parte" means ?

Thanks in advance.

Johan van Veen wrote (January 31, 2002):
< Rianto Pardede wrote: Anyway, could you or anybody please explain what " a colla parte" means ? >
'Colla parte' means literally "with the part". It means that the instruments don't have an independent part, but play the vocal parts. They just support the voices and give some colour to the vocal parts.

Peter Bright wrote (January 31, 2002):
[To Rianto Pardede] Yes, I have these Hanssler volumes - they're very enjoyable, but Rilling does row against the tide of the general consensus regarding how Bach should be played (whether that is an advantage or disadvantage is up to the listener, of course). I'm not sure how often I will return to such sets of chorales (whoever happens to direct them) as I tend to get more fulfilment from the Passions and complete cantatas, but sometimes it is rather nice to hear a continuous stream of the chorales and songs. One aspect I particularly enjoy in the Rilling set is the inclusion of organ chorales/arrangements interspersed among the vocal works. I followed the link that Charles included and found the prices rather steep. I was amazingly lucky, in that all the single chorale discs were in a local sale priced 4 for 10 UK pounds (the double set was 6.99) - so it might be worth investigating further for better prices than those advertised.

Michael Grover wrote (January 31, 2002):
[To Scott M. Hyslop] Here is my review of the Brilliant Classics Chorales box set:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BachRecordings/message/4408

Here is ordering information:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BachRecordings/message/4466

My Lack of German

Anthony Olszowy wrote (February 8, 2002):
Can someone with far better German than mine explain to me the meaning of "stollen" and "abgesang" (I think) in relation to chorales?

Thomas Braatz wrote (February 8, 2002):
[To Anthony Olszowy] A good explanation is given in the Oxford Composer Companions: J.S.Bach [Boyd] Oxford University Press, 1999, in the article, "Barform," which explains it as a three-part musical structure (A-A-B). The A's are called the "Stollen" and the B is the "Abgesang." The text is NOT repeated, but the music is. I tried to give a detailed representation of how this applies to the chorale in BWV 92, but somehow my lengthy posting was unsuccessful. I will try to post it again.

Anthony Olszowy wrote (February 8, 2002):
[To Thomas Braatz] Thank you, Tom. As always, you can be relied on!

Nun danket alle Gott – French

Dick Wursten wrote (March 13, 2002):
Has not much to do with bach-cantatas, but this seemed to me the right place
to ask: I'm looking for a good french translation of 'Nun danket alle Gott'... Je cherche une bonne traduction en francais de cantiqu /choral: Nun danket alle Gott... To sing.

Ludwig wrote (March 14, 2002):
[To Dick Wursten]
Est-ce-que vous vous voulussiez dire le libretto
entier de cantata en français ou est-ce-que lui vous
moyen juste que le texte ce vous avez inclus dans
vo^tre poste?

Dick Wursten wrote (March 14, 2002):
[To Luswig] Ohlala, ludwig, you had almost done too much. Je voulusseraiserais only the texte of the strophes of the choral en francais pour chanter dans un service multilingue. [German, English and Dutch are already availabe, French is missing till now] In the German original there are trois strophes: Voici les coordinates originelles:
Nun danket alle Gott, melod. Joh. Cruger 1647 / Text Martin Rinckart (Jesus
Sirach 50,24-26)

Merci beaucoup in advance

Mark DeGarmeaux wrote (Maarch 14, 2002):
There is a small French-speaking Lutheran church body in France and Belgium. I'm sure they would have a translation of Nun danket alle Gott.

Evangelical Lutheran Church--Synod of France and Belgium (Église Évangélique Luthèrienne Synode de France et de Belgique)

There is information about them at:
http://www.ilc-online.org/members/france.html

The main link listed there did not seem to work, but you might try the email address that's listed there.

Andreas Bughardt wrote (Maarch 15, 2002):
[To Dick Wursten] This is the translation of cantata 194 that comes with the Harnoncourt / Leonhardt series. However, I doubt that it is very good for singing. Mais ... on vera.

1. Rendez tous grâce à Dieu,
de votre coeur, de vos paroles et de vos actes,
à lui qui accomplit
tant de bienfaits pour nous,
à lui qui nous comble depuis le sein de notre mère,
depuis notre plus tendre enfance,
d'innobrables marques de bonté
et qui continue à nous en prodiguer.

2. Le Dieu éternellement puissant
veut nous donner pendant notre vie
un coeur toujours joyeux
et une paix sereine,
nous maintenir continuellment
dans sa grâce
et nous libérer
de tous maux
ici-bas comme dans l'autre monde.

3. Louange, honneur et gloire à Dieu,
au Père et au Fils
et au Dieu de la Trinité,
leur égal
sur le suprême trône céleste,
comme il en fut au commencement,
comme il en est maintenant
et en sera à jamais.

Dick Wursten wrote (March 15, 2002):
[To Ludwig and Andreas Burghardt] Merci for helping me to find a proper translation. The Harnoncourt –version is a non-metric translation (and also not very poetic)> so I looked further on the internet. But how to look for a text you don't know....

Finally I had the brainwave to french-ize my google and start a search for "Nun danket alle Gott". This brought me after many pages (with Bach-chorale's, sheetmusic, concerts and CD-s...) , to a website which gave an oversight of famous German chorals with trilingual first lines (Deutsch, english, francais)... There I found juxtaposed 'Nun danket alle Gott' & 'Béni soit le Seigneur'. This indeed was the first line I was looking for. Cantique 174 (and of many psalms) in 'Louange et Prière', the french protestant hymnbook I possess, begins with it and is the French re-creation of Martin Rinkarts German hymn, which is a recreation of Jesus Sirach praise in Hebrew, which we till recently only knew in Greek.

Why could I not find it in the 'table des auteurs' ? Because it is wrongly attributed to Olearius...

But away with the trouble ! (Weg, weg !). I looked and I have found.

Searching for an interesting goal, brings you to many also-interesting sites...

Ludwig wrote (March 17, 2002):
[To Dick Wursten] I inadvertently did the French for Nun komm,der Heiden. I have seen someone else's translation and will not try to improve on it.

However, to illiustrate the difficulties involved and getting the meter right (so that it is singable without converting whole notes to eights, sixteenths or thirty seconds). I will illustrate the following: the English form for Nun komm-- is often translated as "Now we all thank our God" or more contemporarily "Now we thank God for everything". I prefer the former.

The literal French from the German would be "Maintenant remercient tout le dieu" which is not very singable. But with modifications: "Noremercions Dieu de tout" it fits somewhat better especially if we use the imperative form (Thank God for all) which changes the German meaning.

The Spanish is even more problematic: "ahora agradecemos a nuestro dios" and it is not much better in Portuguese: "Agora nós agradecemos nosso deus" and Italian is even worse.

Ludwig wrote (March 18, 2002):
[To Dick Wursten] Please excuse my grammatical errors for written French

I hurriedly wrote the former message.

Ici le choeur primier:

"Viens maintenant, Saveur des païens!
Enfant reconu issu de le Vierge
Tel que le monde entier s'étonne
Que Dieu lui envoie pareille naissance"

Dick Wursten wrote (March 24, 2002):
For everyone interested in translations (to be sung) of this famous choral in French (also the basis of several compositions of Bach), here follow the results which I only could achieve because of the kind cooperation of an organist of the Eglise Reformee de France.

When not interested, just push 'delete'.

For those who don't remember: What was at stake was a translation which more or less parallelled the German Original... (in order to sing this hymn alternatim multi-lingual.. or perhaps even simultaneously.)

I myself was happy when I found in 'Louanges et Prierès' the song : Béni soit le Seigneur, mon Créateur, mon Père... on the same melody.. but disappointment followed soon after: the text only was similar in the first lines of the first strophe, the rest was own invention. So I started an internetquest... Here they are all (to be sung on 'Nun danket alle Gott', the beautiful hymn of Cruger (Esp. with the original dancelike rhythm). In my opinion Psaumes et Cantiques n° 370 wins the price of source-text-faithfullness, though not the best poem...

Béni soit le Seigneur, mon Créateur, mon Père,
Qui de mille bienfaits, pendant ma vie entière,
A daigné me combler; c'est de lui que je tiens
Et mon âme et mon corps, avec tant d'autres biens.

Béni soit le Seigneur, le Fils du Dieu suprême,
Qui pour moi se fit homme et pour prevue qu'il me'aime.
endurant tous les maux à la croix attache
A repandu son sang pour laver mon péché

Béni soit le Seigneur, l'Esprit saint, pur et sage
Qui de l'amour du Père et du Fils m'est un gage
C'est lui qui me remplit des consolations
Dont mon âme a besoin dans ses afflictions

De ce Dieu trois fois saint, à l'exemple des anges,
Chretiens, empressons-nou à chanter les louanges;
Faisons avec transport retentir en tout lieu
Ce cantique sacré : Béni soit notre Dieu !

Pour la mélodie de "Nun danket alle Gott", la version de "Louanges et Prières" a été légèrement remaniée pour le recueil "Nos coeurs te chantent", puis reprise presque telle quelle dans "Arc en ciel". Dans le recueil suisse "Psaumes et cantiques, il y a quelques versions intéressantes. Mais aucune n'est strictement parallèle au texte allemand. Je vous donne les textes:

NCTC n°260
1. Béni soit le Seigneur, le Créateur, le Père;
son amour resplendit sur notre terre entière.
Il nous a tout donné; tout nous vient de ses mains,
Et la vie et la joie, et le pain et le vin.
2.Béni soit le Seigneur, le fils du Dieu qui aime,
qui pour nous se fit homme et qui s'offrit lui-même,
il devint serviteur cloué sur une croix,
et Dieu l'a élevé plus haut que tous les rois.
3. Béni soit le Seigneur, l'Esprit saint pur et sage,
qui de l'amour du Père et du Fils est le gage.
C'est lui qui nous unit et nous fait retrouver
le chemin de l'amour et de la liberté.

Ps. et cant.n° 209
1. Voici ton jour, Seigneur, le jour de la lumière
où tu créas d'un mot le ciel avec la terre.
Où l'univers entier sortit de son néant,
où l'homme fut créé pour être ton enfant
2. Voici ton jour, Seigneur, le jour de la victoire,
où Jésus triomphant vint partager ta gloire.
Premier parmi les morts, il est ressuscité
il a vaincu le mal, pour nous en délivrer.
3. Voici ton jour, Seigneur, ta grâce nous appelle.
L'Esprit a visité l'Eglise des fidèles.
Nous l'attendons aussi: qu'il visite nos coeurs,
qu'il fasse rayonner la gloire du Sauveur.
4. Voici ton jour, Seigneur, sois béni d'âge en âge!
Heureux qui te reçoit, la joie est son partage.
Il marche dans la foi, ta force habite en lui,
jusqu'au jour éternel que tu nous as promis.
d'après L. Roehrich, 1866

n° 210
1. O Dieu de l'univers, qui seul es notre Père,
tu vois que tes enfants s'affrontent sur la terre.
Oh, viens par ton amour les ramener à toi,
et que ton règne enfin réponde à notre foi.
2. Soutiens les serviteurs qui portent ton message!
Ranime en eux la foi, la force et le courage!
Qu'ils ne faiblissent pas dans leur fidélité,
témoins de ta justice et de ta charité.
3. Le règne de la paix sur ton amour se fonde,
et tu nous as choisis pour l'annoncer au monde.
Ce règne est parmi nous, ici, dès cet instant,
un don du Saint-Esprit pour devancer les temps.
4. Ce règne commencé doit s'achever en gloire.
Nous sommes engagés, Seigneur, dans ta victoire.
L'Eglise en combattant espère ton retour:
La terre avec les cieux vivra dans ton amour.
E. Pidoux

n° 370
1. Du coeur et de la voix rendez à Dieu la gloire!
Comptez tous ses bienfaits: qu'ils soient dans vos mémoires!
Nous sommes sous ses yeux dès notre premier jour,
pour vivre et pour mourir, veillés par son amour.
2. O Père tout-puissant, ta grâce est infinie!
Ta paix remplit nos coeurs, ta joie est dans nos vies.
Tu mets ta force en nous selon ta volonté,
et veux nous accueillir dans ton éternité.
3. Louange soit à Dieu, le Père qui nous aime!
Louange soit au Fils qui s'est donné lui-même!
Louange au Saint-Esprit, le puissant défenseur!
Unique et trois fois saint, loué soit le Seigneur!
E. Pidoux

Il existe encore un version spécifique pour le Nouvel an: Ps et Cant. n° 271

Voilà: j'espère que vous trouverez ce qu'il vous faut! Avec mes salutations cordiales, Annemarie Lienhard, organiste.

Ludwig wrote (March 24, 2002):
[To Dick Wursten] I noticed that your version can also be sung to Martin Luther's Ein feste ein burg.

Continue on Part 3

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Last update: Friday, June 02, 2017 15:10