Verleih uns Frieden
Since last week's motet, Gregor Meyer's remarkable 'Da pacem', I have been thinking upon Martin Luther's chorale 'Verleih uns Frieden'. It's such a spare, economical tune, nonetheless powerful for all that. In fact, quite the reverse. Based upon the Latin hymn, 'Da pacem Domine', the chorale hews quite closely to its model, and the German translation is quite close in meaning, line by line, to the original. Here's an English translation:
Graciously grant us peace,
Lord God, in our time;
There is surely no other
Who could fight thus for us
Than you alone, God our Lord.
It is unequivocally a prayer for peace, of course, and as such has inspired a wealth of settings over many, many years, one of the most recent being Meyer's. We'll look at three others today.
But as a personal note: What stands out for me in this moment is the fact that the text asserts that it is God alone who can bring peace.
My mom, Jean W. Reyes, was a tireless advocate for peace for virtually her whole adult life, so I have a pretty good idea of what this entails. She marched, she wrote letters, she spoke and discussed and read and tried--and usually succeeded--to enact within herself and in her outward acts a life of peace and caring. In December of 1967, she literally put her body on the line, participating in an entirely peaceful protest at the Oakland Draft Center. She spent three weeks in jail, along with several hundred others.
This is a life in service of a cause. (She had several other causes, by the way, all as fiercely pursued.) I am certain that many thoughtful Christians understand the reference in the chorale to God alone as God within us. And it seems to me that this must be so: If we truly want peace--and justice and equity and true community and a viable world to pass along to the future--we are the ones who have to make it so.
I struggle with this. Margaret and I are blessed to be able to support a number of organizations in the conservation field. Also some arts organizations (including, of course, Sonoma Bach). And I like to believe that what we do in the world matters, that in some small measure our music and our words and the way we act can help the cause in small but diffusive ways.
But I feel I should be doing more, to somehow emulate Jeanie Reyes in more direct fashion.
Here are the three versions of 'Verleih uns Frieden'. A facsimile of the chorale in one of its earliest appearances; a melody sheet; scores for two of the pieces; and a text-translation sheet are all attached.
1. A masterful five-voice setting by Johannes Eccard;
2. A magical three-voice setting by Hugo Distler;
3. A powerful meditation on the tune by the jazz trio Continuum.
I hope you'll enjoy these wonderful pieces, my music for the day; and perhaps we'll be moved to consider what we can do to help in the effort to secure peace in our time.
Since last week's motet, Gregor Meyer's remarkable 'Da pacem', I have been thinking upon Martin Luther's chorale 'Verleih uns Frieden'. It's such a spare, economical tune, nonetheless powerful for all that. In fact, quite the reverse. Based upon the Latin hymn, 'Da pacem Domine', the chorale hews quite closely to its model, and the German translation is quite close in meaning, line by line, to the original. Here's an English translation:
Graciously grant us peace,
Lord God, in our time;
There is surely no other
Who could fight thus for us
Than you alone, God our Lord.
It is unequivocally a prayer for peace, of course, and as such has inspired a wealth of settings over many, many years, one of the most recent being Meyer's. We'll look at three others today.
But as a personal note: What stands out for me in this moment is the fact that the text asserts that it is God alone who can bring peace.
My mom, Jean W. Reyes, was a tireless advocate for peace for virtually her whole adult life, so I have a pretty good idea of what this entails. She marched, she wrote letters, she spoke and discussed and read and tried--and usually succeeded--to enact within herself and in her outward acts a life of peace and caring. In December of 1967, she literally put her body on the line, participating in an entirely peaceful protest at the Oakland Draft Center. She spent three weeks in jail, along with several hundred others.
This is a life in service of a cause. (She had several other causes, by the way, all as fiercely pursued.) I am certain that many thoughtful Christians understand the reference in the chorale to God alone as God within us. And it seems to me that this must be so: If we truly want peace--and justice and equity and true community and a viable world to pass along to the future--we are the ones who have to make it so.
I struggle with this. Margaret and I are blessed to be able to support a number of organizations in the conservation field. Also some arts organizations (including, of course, Sonoma Bach). And I like to believe that what we do in the world matters, that in some small measure our music and our words and the way we act can help the cause in small but diffusive ways.
But I feel I should be doing more, to somehow emulate Jeanie Reyes in more direct fashion.
Here are the three versions of 'Verleih uns Frieden'. A facsimile of the chorale in one of its earliest appearances; a melody sheet; scores for two of the pieces; and a text-translation sheet are all attached.
1. A masterful five-voice setting by Johannes Eccard;
2. A magical three-voice setting by Hugo Distler;
3. A powerful meditation on the tune by the jazz trio Continuum.
I hope you'll enjoy these wonderful pieces, my music for the day; and perhaps we'll be moved to consider what we can do to help in the effort to secure peace in our time.