Bach,BWV 80,Choir: Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott

[loqutor]

What I love the most about Christianity? Definitely the music.

[MrCajohnson1907]

I didn't need to hear more than three bars to recognize Karl Richter's recording. It's so fast! But this is the best version of this work I've ever heard! I listened to it nearly every day of college. I wish it came on CD, though.

[unamp6]

Gracias....Bellisimo!!!!

[exsaxpommernjung]

MEINE FESTE BURG IST UNSER GOTT!

J.S. Bach ist mein Mittler zum Glauben. Ich bin geboren in seiner Hauptwirkungsstätte. Glaugt mir, er wird dort immer gepriesen, verehrt, nach unserem HERRN.

Greetings from germany

[guerillin]

what's up with the picture of a man looking like Jesus about to French kiss another man? this is rather disturbing, should have tried a landscape instead.

[csofan52]

@guerillin It's a fresco by Giotto, "The Kiss of Judas", depicting the biblical scene of Judas' Kiss. That how Judas 'secretly' identified Christ to the soldiers of Pontius Pilate.

[0Alcina0]

やはりリヒターのバッハは魂のこめ方が違うです。。

[msmucde]

Karl Richter war einer der großen Bachinterpreten. Durch seine Interpretationen habe ich die Musik von Bach schätzen gelernt. Bach ist der Größte.

[aleromans90]

unfortunatly the trumpets and the percussions are not by bach, but by his son..... but... o my god I love this piece, I hear it since I was 5

[wcbroccoli]

I'd say it's fortunate, rather than unfortunate, that Bach did not write

in any trumpet or timpani parts. The affect here is rather cheesy, like a Hollywood movie or Broadway musical score. It only detracts from the splendor of Bach's writing: (1) a 4-part vocal fugue on the cantus firmus plus continuo, and (2) a canonic treatment of the cantus firmus between the oboes and organ pedal.

[ceemosp]

@wcbroccoli You remind me of the critics that stand up during a concert, shouting foul, and stating that the composer never intended it to be played that way.

At least add the words "in my opinion" and don't make it sound like the absolute truth.

[Inasnah]

@wcbroccoli Sigh...I didn't know that Bach's son was from the Hollywood era since it was he who added the Trumpets and Timpani. The use of these instruments is actually pretty minimal and add emphasis NOT outside the contrapuntal scheme that JS Bach had in place. The trumpet descant of the Hymn melody is not an addition but simply doubling that of the Oboe parts playing the hymn melody (also sometimes doubling the continuo as well) in counterpoint.

[wcbroccoli]

@Inasnah Sigh..I said "sounds LIKE a Hollywood movie or Broadway musical score", not "is from a Hollywood movie or Broadway musical score".

Trumpet 1 does more than merely double the oboes intoning the cf. The trumpets also add gratutious trumpet fanfares that have NOTHING to do with the material of the fugue and even obscure the fugal climaxes by drowning out the counterpoint. The trumpets do NOT double the continuo. The continuo follows the oboes (doubled by trumpet 1) in canon.

[wcbroccoli]

@Inasnah Whether or not a relative of Bach added the trumpets and timpani doesn't make the addition more authoritative or consistent with Bach's intentions.

[Inasnah]

@wcbroccoli My use of the word doubling was meant for the trumpets and oboes I was going to make a point about the continuo and included it. However, the trumpet material may not have have been born out of the the fugal material assigned to the chorus but it does have a solid connection to the overall compositional material of the presented in the movement. Its inclusion does not obstruct the contrapuntal goings on in any compositional/textural way.

[Inasnah]

@Inasnah You may not like the addition of the trumpets and timpani...I like the original version just as much as this one but for sure the trumpets and timpani do not have a gratuitous existence with no contrapuntal or motivic connection to Bach's original material. Its just that to your ears and perhaps the ears of some others that you loose connection to what is going on because additional color of the trumpet/timpani. Bach's son was being more thoughtful and respectful than you make it seem.

[wcbroccoli]

@Inasnah The trumpet fanfares ARE gratuitous; they have no connection whatsover with the material of the fugue. I challenge you to cite the motivic connection. I really doubt Bach would have sad, "Damn, I wish I had thought to add trumpets." And I suppose Mozart was being thoughful and respectful when he added clarinets to Handel's Messiah. Or Stokowsky with his monstrous orchestrations of Bach organ music.

[wcbroccoli]

@Inasnah The trumpet and timpani parts were skillfuly added, even though they have no connection to the material in the fugue. And no matter how much you protest, the trumpets DO distract from the far more interesting contrapuntal climaxes, and the doubling of the oboes by trumpet distrubs the balance between the canon and the fugato textures.

[Inasnah]

@wcbroccoli It is not about me protesting anything. You stating that the trumpet and timpani is distracting fromt he contrapuntal material is based on the limitation that this piece alone is built on counterpoint. The construction of the fugue itself is not just the the melodic material that stems from the subject. But within the fugal subject you have rhythmic motifs, intervalic motifs to name a few. So you are not challenging me in anyway to prove anything.

[Inasnah]

@Inasnah You don't know if Bach had the option of trumpets and timpani at the specific time that the cantata was to be performed. It takes more than just adding an instrument to decided whether or not the addition was respectful or not. And in this case, there was no disrespect to the compositional material because the added lines move contrapuntally.

[Inasnah]

@Inasnah One example that I really like with this version is use or the repeated 8th note on Tonic and sometimes dominant highlighting the sustained/pedal tones in the bass continuo. Its easy to hear the figure in the trumpets/timpani as nothing but wasted repeated 8th notes. Your problem is that you are just complaining that you can't hear the piece they way you want to hear it as in its original context. But it is more than faulty to say that the added material has not connection to Bach's own

[spinoza1111]

This was more than the verger wanted This was hard on the good folk Such noise had never been heard Since the morning of the world, Such shouting and such tulmult As if a storm from the sea A European storm of middle winter Had blown the doors asunder. They asked me to tone it down My sons abandoned my style But like old Martin I had my inner Man And he said (ihr Sprach) Ich Kann Nicht Anders Erstanden.

[nonezoner]

@spinoza1111 So what are you saying? Did you sing this in an Episcopal Church or Cathedral???

[spinoza1111]

No. The poem is Bach talking. Read Theodore Adorno, Bach Defended Against His Devotees.

[zambombazo0]

Mercedes Pastor Fa 12 enero 2010

Es maravilloso Bach. Aquí se supera . Es un genio

[paradoxicus]

Esta no es una música para los servicios luteranos,transcienden para llegar plena al corazón y saliendo del mismo elevarse al firmamento.

[textthing]

A pity it cuts off at the end.

[captnunziatella]

absolutely wonderful!

[TheLeonardoSaez]

Bach y Karl Richter hoy están juntos en esa sólida fortaleza para siempre.

[lapone64]

JS Bach and Karl Richter together in this might fortress forever!

[shaneallen1982]

This music is so one of my favorites.i love all of Bachs music

[lefekir]

Muenchen und Bach!

[DancingFalcons]

Hearing this makes my soul fly with eagles!

[ShakespeareHamlet]

beautiful. Bach was a genius.

[lefekir]

Has anyone done it better?

[assclown2k6]

Bach playing with Luther's signature hymn. Epic.

[textthing]

A little known fact is that the English composer Havergal Brian also used Luther's hymn in one of his works.

[FatherOfThings]

PLEASE POST THE REST!!!!!

[plutarco7890]

Already done, you can find it in the page #2 in my videos

[MrTomekat87]

bravo richter

[metalheadnick555]

One thing I love about J.S. Bach is that he captures the religious fervor and the feeling of God coming upon us better than any other composer out there. When I first heard this, I'm convinced I had a genuine religious experience. That's an amazing composer if you ask me.

[BayAreaBiker2001]

J.S. Bach was a church musician, so we could reasonably expect religious music. Composing music for church services was one of his duties, which he did brilliantly.

[astraioshh]

He wasnt only musically inspired by his genius. He was inspired by the spirit of god. Mostly each of his autographs carries "S.D.G." Soli Deo Gloria.

[gerettet]

Klingt sehr schön

[ShakespeareHamlet]

just heavenly.

[santoperuano]

No conocía esta obra de Bach... maravilloso arreglo del no menos extraordinario himno luterano.

[WolfgangSebastien]

Vielen Dank für dieses Inmortal Musik!

hervorragende Leistung!!

[dseymour2001]

Where is the rest of movement 1, why was it cut off? Wouldn't at least one of the 10,883 "viewers" ask this question in the commentary? What goes?

[plutarco7890]

Whe I uploaded,last year,I had a PC that sometime refused to save up to the end,so if you are really interested to the complete movement I can upload again just for you.

[Eye2watch]

Well, that would be nice ^^

[plutarco7890]

done

[Eye2watch]

@plutarco7890 I think I've forgotten to thank you for the new upload. So, now, after apparently 2 years... thank you :)

[1685JSBAMB1750]

Es ist das Lied der Reformation und eines der schönsten Lieder überhaupt, es faßt alles zusammen, was evangelisch ist - es darf und muß so mächtig klingen, wie die Reformation es war !

[werwarich]

das lied ist gut. die interpretation ist zu dick aufgetragen. also kitschig.

[astraioshh]

Was ist daran zu dick aufgetragen ? Bach hat die Instrumente und die Noten vorgeschrieben. Einzig alleine über das Tempo und die Artikulation kann man diskutieren.

[werwarich]

ein bißchen sehr dick aufgetragen.

gefällt nicht.

[mc88giorg]

was soll daran dick aufgetragen sein? hier wird doch schliesslich kein brot geschmiert!

das lied is gut

[NorseLuther]

Marvellous!

[debartzen]

Maravillosa coral dirigida por el refernte Richter,prematuramente fallecido.Tu Talento nos engrandece.

[wcbroccoli]

Bach certainly did use trumpets and tympani in some of his cantata's, but not in this one.

The trumpet and tympani parts were added after Bach's death by his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, and merely add gratuitous fanfares or double the oboes.

[jasonrc]

I am so glad someone posted this!!!

[Eskadron22]

Fantastic! Finally a version made it to Youtube!

EHRE SEI GOTT IN DER HÖHE! ERE ZIJ GOD IN DEN HOOGE!

[MaBu888]

Godd iz in tha ionohsfeeeer bithces! Yo! Respect.

[MaBu888]

I tried to be funny. Yet another failed attempt. Sorry for the trouble. I understand your faith. I don't think you are blinded by it.