Chorale Preludes on Christ lag in Todesbanden G. F. Kauffmann (1679-1735), T. Volckmar (1686?-1768?).
"Christ lay in the bands of death, given for our sin; now He is risen again and has brought us life. For this we should be glad, praise God and be thankful and sing Alleluja, Alleluja." This chorale was written by Martin Luther for his hymn book Eyn Enchiridion (Erfurt, 1524), partly based on the plainsong sequence for Easter Victimae Paschali laudes of Wipo / Wigbert of Burgundy (ca. 995 - ca. 1048), which also provides the source for the tune. The first form of the complete melody is to be found in J. W. Walther's Gesangbüchlein (1524), but we hear it today in Bach's harmonization (BWV 277). Georg Friedrich Kauffmann was organist and Director of Music at the Cathedral in Merseburg, some twelve miles south of Halle, and, as one of the foremost musicians of his day, a serious competitor of Bach's for the post of Cantor in Leipzig. Playing his music, one can see why: the music seems simple, but there is a lot going on. The second prelude is marked T. Volckmar in my edition, which I have tentatively identified with Theophil Andreas Volckmar, who was one year younger than Bach, therefore born in 1686. He appears to have lived until 1768 and was organist at Danzig, now Gdansk. He published Kirchen-Sonaten auff eyne und drey Clavieren und Pedal bestehende Orgel (1717). There is another organist Volckmar, one Wilhelm Valentin (1812-1887), with whom it is possible T. A. was related. While Kauffmann's style is individual, reminiscent if anything of Bach's close relative and contemporary Johann Gottfried Walther's, Volckmar's harks back to the previous generation and reminds one of the music of Krieger.
Hymn No. 140 Jesus lives! C. F. Gellert (1715-69); Tune: St. Albinus, H. J. Gauntlett (1805-76).
Christian Fürchtegott Gellert was the son of a Lutheran parsonage in Hainichen near Freiberg (Erzgebirge), and read theology at Leipzig University. Because he could not preach his sermons from memory, a practice demanded by the Lutheran church at that time, he became a tutor. He resumed his studies in Leipzig in 1741, he was apppointed Professor of Philosophy ten years later. Goethe and Lessing were among his pupils, and he was held in great esteem by all his students. Indeed, his charitable works reduced him to poverty. This is a translation of Gellert's Jesus lebt, mit ihm auch ich, "Jesus lives, and I with him", which appeared in his Geistliche Oden und Lieder (1757), and for which he is mainly remembered in this country. It was translated by Frances Elizabeth Cox (1812-97), in her Sacred Hymns from the German (first edition, 1841), originally in a six-line form, each verse ending with "This shall be my confidence" and no alleluias.
Hymn No. 136 Christ the Lord is risen again Michael Weisse (1480-1534); Tune: Easter Hymn, Lyra Davidica (1708).
Weisse was a monk in Breslau (now in Poland), who was inspired by Luther's writings and joined the Bohemian Brethren, known in England as the Moravians or Hussites. This hymn, Christus ist erstanden / Von des Todes Banden "Christ is risen from the chains of death", appeared in Ein new Gesangbüchlein "A New Hymnbook" (1531), the Brethren's first hymnbook, which Weisse edited, translating many of his own originally Latin hymns into German. The original hymns were for one voice only, harmonizations and musical accompaniment being regarded as immoral by the Brethren. It was translated into English, as were so many other German chorales, by the redoubtable Catherine Winkworth, and published in Lyra Germanica (1858) and The Chorale Book for England (1863). Catherine Winkworth was also a notable pioneer of higher education for women.
Chorale Prelude on Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV695) Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
This piece is called fantasia, but it is anything but free in its conception. It is a lively canon in 6/8 time with the chorale melody in the middle, making in effect a trio, and a suitable piece for the joyful end of an Easter morning service. Like the chorale, the prelude's first section is repeated and then varied in the final part, each section ending with chords which evoke the final "Alelluia". The 3/8 time signature is significant: it is intended to be played as a very merry dance, and such pieces are sometimes even subtitled "triumphal air" or its equivalent, which would be appropriate on this occasion.