A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Lent 1

The First Sunday in Lent focuses on the Temptation of our Lord. After a 40 day fast in the wilderness, Satan wants his way with the Messiah, and tempts him three times. Since Jesus is God and born without sin, he is able to withstand this temptation.

The Hymn of the Day for Lent I is "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." For years I asked myself, "Why?" Last year, my parish was in vacancy. I suggested to our vacancy pastor that we sing the appointed Hymn of the Day. He felt it was an unusual choice as well.

Here's the deal... Instead of viewing this hymn as the "Battle Hymn of the Reformation" it is good to think of this hymn as the "Battle Hymn against Satan." No matter how hard he and his legion of demons try, they cannot overpower the Christ and His Church!

Here is a wonderful arrangement, sung in German. The congregation sings an isorythmic version on stanzas 1 and 4, while the choir gets a rhythmic version on stanzas 2 and 3. Unlike the English versions, these German settings are in the same meter.

Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott



For more on this series on A Mighty Fortress, click the "Fortress" label.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: To Be Continued...

As you may remember, this blog started with a series called "A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses," revolving around the great Reformation hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."

I had originally planned to do 4 posts, one for each stanza.  This post makes #13, and I have only gotten to lines 3 and 4 of the first stanza.

The series will pick up again sometime in the new year, possibly towards the end of Epiphany and the beginning of Lent.  The hymn is the appointed Hymn of the Day for Lent 1.

For now, let's settle in for Advent.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Comparing Stanza One, Part II

German:

Er hilft uns frei aus aller Not

     Die uns jetzt hat betroffen

Literal:

He helps us free from every need

     That has now befallen us

LSB (rhythmic):

He helps us free from every need

     That hath us now overtaken

LSB (isorhythmic):

He breaks the cruel oppressor's rod

     And wins salvation glorious

Hymntime.com

Our helper He, amid the flood

     Of mortal ills prevailing

Omar Westendorf:

Protecting us with staff and rod

     And power all prevailing

Rarely does the literal translation fit into the meter of the original text.  In this hymn, it happens at least twice:

Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott

A mighty fortress is our God

Er hilft uns frei aus aller Not

He helps us free from every need

It seems when this happens the translator's work is a little easier, so I am not sure why one would tinker with the line "Er hilft..."

LSB (rhythmic) wins with the literal sense once again.

Heading back to Scripture, LSB (isorhythmic) is more closely aligned with verse 9b of the King James Version (1611).  The German comes text comes from verse 5b:

He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder

He breaks the cruel oppressor's rod

God shall help her

He helps us

The text from hymntime.com uses more imagery and less literalness, but it is fairly close when you get right down to it. 

KJV (1611): God shall help her...

Literal:  He helps us...

Hymntime: Our helper, He...

Omar Westendorf's translation seems to be a fish-out-of-water, though.  He goes with "protector" instead of "helper."  It is further away from the literal translation, but the imagery in this instance seems to work.

Westendorf's use of "staff and rod," though, is more closely related to Psalm 23 than Psalm 46.

Psalm 46: He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder

Psalm 23: Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me

Westendorf: Protecting us with staff and rod

In Psalm 46, God is breaking the rod (or spear) of His enemies.  In Psalm 23, God uses His rod (more of a long stick in this instance) to help comfort us.

Westendorf's translation here is out of context.  Where this portion of Psalm 46 is crushing, the Psalm 23 reference is comforting.

Ein Feste Burg is a paraphrase of Psalm 46, not Psalm 23.  The two aren't necessarily meant to be combined.  Take this paraphrase of Psalm 23 from LSB 710:

Yea, though I walk through death's dark vale,

Yet will I fear no ill,

For Thou art with me and Thy rod

And staff me comfort still.

If you combine this section with Psalm 46, you might get this:

Yea, though I walk through death's dark vale,

Yet will I fear no ill,

For Thou art breaking evil's rod

And crushing its spear to nil.

Psalm 46 shouldn't be softened by Psalm 23.  Likewise Psalm 23 shouldn't be sharpened with Psalm 46.  These two Psalms serve different purposes.

In summary, most of the translations are faithful to Psalm 46 but differ here and there from the literal translation.  Westendorf, by veering off to Psalm 23, changes the scope of the literal meaning as well as the context of the passage.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Comparing Stanza One, Part I

As promised, here is the line-by-line comparison of Stanza 1 of A Mighty Fortress.

To keep the posts from getting to long, I am taking one section at a time.

German:

Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott

     Ein gute Wehr und Waffen

Literal:

A mighty fortress is our God

     A good defense and weapon

LSB (rhythmic):

A mighty fortress is our God

     A trusty shield and weapon

LSB (isorhythmic):

A mighty fortress is our God

     A sword and shield victorious

Hymntime.com (isorhythmic):

A mighty fortress is our God

     A bulwark never failing

Omar Westendorf (isorhythmic):

A mighty fortress is our God

     A bulwark never failing

When you are putting a literal meaning into a metered form, things get tricky, and sometimes you have to resort to imagery instead of literalness.  LSB (rhythmic) is the closest to the literal translation. As for capturing the imagery of this section, all of the translations do a fairly good job of that.

Still, I am not sure "bulwark" is the best sense of the original text.  This hymn is a loose paraphrase of Psalm 46.  I thought perhaps the King James Version (1611) would have a clue.

1: God is our refuge and strength,

     a very present help in trouble.
2: Therefore will not we fear,

     though the earth be removed,

     and though the mountains be carried

          into the midst of the sea;
3: Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,

     though the mountains shake

          with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4: There is a river,

     the streams whereof

          shall make glad the city of God,

     the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5: God is in the midst of her;

     she shall not be moved:

     God shall help her, and that right early.
6: The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved:

     He uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7: The LORD of hosts is with us;

     the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8: Come, behold the works of the LORD,

     what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9: He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;

     He breaketh the bow,

          and cutteth the spear in sunder;

     He burneth the chariot in the fire.
10: Be still, and know that I am God:

     I will be exalted among the heathen,

     I will be exalted in the earth.
11: The LORD of hosts is with us;

     the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. 

Hmm... I am still not getting the "bulwark" part when compared to the original, other translations, and Scripture.

I will leave that up for discussion in the comment box.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Let's Compare! Part I

Translating poetry into another language is one of the most challenging linguistic tasks.

Just determining a literal meaning from a form that isn't always literal can be an issue, then squeezing the literal meaning back into the meter of the original so it can be sung creates another bag of worms.

Those who endeavor to do such things are to be commended.

The base text in German is as follows:

Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott,

Ein gute Wehr und Waffen;

Er hilft uns frei aus aller Not,

Die uns jetzt hat betroffen.

Der alt’ böse Feind,

Mit Ernst er’s jetzt meint,

Gross’ Macht und viel List

Sein’ grausam’ Ruestung ist,

Auf Erd’ ist nicht seingleichen.

Thanks to the assistance Dr. George C. Adams, we have the following literal translation:

A mighty fortress is our God,

A good defense and weapon;

He helps us free from every need

That has now befallen us.

The old wicked Foe,

He really is in ernest (Literally, "he really means it")

Great power and much craftiness

Are his fearful armaments.

His equal is not on earth.

Lutheran Service Book #656 (rhythmic):

A mighty fortress is our God,

A trusty shield and weapon;

He helps us free from every need

That hath us now overtaken.

The old evil foe

Now means deadly woe;

Deep guile and great might

Are his dread arms in fight;

On earth is not his equal.

Lutheran Service Book #657 (isorhythmic):

A mighty fortress is our God,

A sword and shield victorious;

He breaks the cruel oppressor's rod

And wins salvation glorious.

The old satanic foe

Has sworn to work us woe.

With craft and dreadful might

He arms himself to fight.

On Earth he has no equal.

Hymntime.com (isorhythmic):

A mighty fortress is our God,

A bulwark never failing;

Our helper He, amid the flood

Of mortal ills prevailing:

For still our ancient foe

Doth seek to work us woe;

His craft and power are great,

And, armed with cruel hate,

On earth is not his equal.

Omar Westendorf (isorhythmic):

A mighty fortress is our God,

A bulwark never failing;

Protecting us with staff and rod,

And power all prevailing.

What if the nations rage

And surging seas rampage;

What though the mountains fall,

The Lord is God of all;

The Lord of hosts is with us.

In future posts, a line-by-line comparison of Stanza 1.

Time Out #37: Guess Which Hymn?

This week on Lutheran Time Out, three guesses on the hymn, and the first two don't count.

There are no Table Talk Radio points on the line for guessing it either.

There are 8 clues right in this blog (make that nine now).

That's right, the hymn this week is A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.

Tune in to hear the rhythmic version with the golden tones of Layman Dan and the talented Southern Lutheran Kantor improvising at the mighty organ.

You can sing along in Lutheran Service Book, Hymn 656.  Please stand if you do ;)

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Translation work is complete!

I asked for translation help here and on the Wittenberg Trail. 

Special thanks to Dr. George C. Adams, who stepped up to the plate on The Trail and offered clear translations for lines 4, 6, 7, and 8.

Line 1:
Ein' feste Burg is unser Gott,
A mighty fortress is our God,

Line 2:
Ein gute Wehr und Waffen;
A good defense and weapon;

Line 3:
Er hilft uns frei aus aller Not,
He helps us free from every need

Line 4:
Die uns jetzt hat betroffen.
That has us now befallen.

Line 5:
Der alt' boese Feind,
The old wicked Foe,

Line 6:
Mit Ernst er's jetzt meint
He really is in ernest (Literally, "he really means it")

Line 7:
Gross' Macht und viel List
Great power and much craftiness

Line 8:
Sein' grauseam' Ruestung ist,
His armor is cruel, [Are his fearful armaments]

Line 9:
Auf Erd' is nicht sein gleichen.
His equal is not on earth.

Look for a post coming soon comparing various metered translations of Stanza 1.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Let's Translate Together!

OK, so one article I read about this song is that it is notoriously difficult to translate into English.  Apparently, there are over 100 versions floating around out there.

So, let's go back to the drawing board.  My German is rusty, but I will give it a try.  Those of you who well-versed in German, feel free to leave corrections in the comment box.  I am looking for a literal translation here, so there is no need to try to crunch the translation into the meter.

Also, if this German version is not the one that the Lutheran Hymnal Project used for LSB, feel free to drop the correct one in the comment box as well.

Here we go!

Line 1:
Ein' feste Burg is unser Gott,
A mighty fortress is our God,

Line 2:
Ein gute Wehr und Waffen;
A good defense and weapon;

Line 3:
Er hilft uns frei aus aller Not,
He helps us free from every need

Line 4:
Die uns jetzt hat betroffen.
That has now affected us.

Line 5:
Der alt' boese Feind,
The old wicked Foe,

Line 6:
Mit Ernst er's jetzt meint
With seriousness he has now ______

Line 7:
Gross' Macht und viel List
Great power and much craftiness

Line 8:
Sein' grauseam' Ruestung ist,
His armor is cruel,

Line 9:
Auf Erd' is nicht sein gleichen.
His equal is not on earth.

As you can see, Line 6 was particularly challenging.

Again, leave any corrections or clarifications in the comment section, and a new literal translation will be used to compare other English translation.

Special thanks to Google Translator and reverso.net for making this work fairly easy, and to hymntime for providing the German text.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Definitions, Part IIIb: bulwark?!

For those of you who have been following the Fortress series, the call went out for a definition and a photo.  The definition came rather quickly (thanks, anon) and the photo was slow coming in.

Thanks to Caroline, we now have a royalty-free photo!

Caroline is now the proud owner of 10 Table Talk Radio points.  Yes, the famous Table Talk Radio with Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller and Seminarian-turned-Vicar Evan Goeglein.  Yes, the Table Talk Radio of Theological Buzz Words, Bible Bee, and Iron Preacher.  Yes, the same Table Talk Radio where the points are like a pipe organ in a "contemporary" church, pretty much useless.

Tune in now!

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: One Song, Two Meters

One thing a person might ask if they looked closely at most hymns in the Lutheran Service Book is "What are all those numbers at the bottom of the page?"

There are two different sets of numbers, one for each version of the hymn.

• 87 87 55 56 7 (Rhythmic)
• 87 87 66 66 7 (Isorhythmic)

Each number refers to the number of syllables in each line of the hymn.

A MIGH-TY FOR -TRESS IS OUR GOD  (8 syllables)
A TRUST-Y SHIELD AND WEAP-ON (7 syllables - rhythmic)
or
A BUL-WARK NEV-ER FAIL-ING (7 syllables - isorhythmic)

Things get a little sticky a few lines down, as the number of syllables differs from rhythmic to isorhythmic.

Rhythmic:

THE OLD E-VIL FOE (5 syllables)
NOW MEANS DEAD-LY WOE (5 syllables)
DEEP GUILE AND GREAT MIGHT (5 syllables)
ARE HIS DREAD ARMS IN FIGHT (6 syllables)
ON EARTH IS NOT HIS E-QUAL (7 syllables)

Isorhythmic:
FOR STILL OUR AN-CIENT FOE (6 syllables)
DOTH SEEK TO WORK US WOE (6 syllables)
HIS POW'R AND CRAFT ARE GREAT (6 syllables)
AND, ARMED WITH CRU-EL HATE, (6 syllables)
ON EARTH IS NOT HIS E-QUAL. (7 syllables)

Both tunes are recognizable as "A Mighty Fortress" yet the texts are not exactly interchangeable.  In this version of Hans Leo Hassler's setting, they used an isorhythmic text with the rhythmic tune.



The video uses a different translation.  It will help to have those words for the sake of discussion.  This was not easy to track down.  It is a newer translation by Omar Westendorf.

A mighty fortress is our God,

A bulwark never failing;

Protecting us with staff and rod,

And power all prevailing.

What if the nations rage

And surging seas rampage;

What though the mountains fall,

The Lord is God of all;

The Lord of hosts is with us.

You can hear them "double down" near the end of lines six and seven.  In the rhythmic tune, these lines are all half notes (each note is held for two counts).  In this version, the second last half note is changed to two quarter notes.

Perhaps a visual will help.  The capital letters represent beats with a spoken syllable, the small letters represent beats with a non-spoken syllable.  The text from

Rhythmic text from LSB:

ONE  two  ONE  two  ONE  two  ONE  two  ONE  two

Now       means     dead -    ly        woe 
Deep      guile     and       great     might

Isorhythmic text (Hassler recording):

ONE  two  ONE  two  ONE  two  ONE  TWO  ONE  two

And       surg  -   ing       SEAS RAM- PAGE
What      though    the       MOUN-TAINS FALL

As much as the isorhythmic text's capital letters (SEAS RAMPAGE and MOUNTAINS FALL) and bold TWO beat stand out, you can hear that extra syllable in the recording.

So we have multiple translations, two meters, and two versions of the same tune.  Yet the differences make it difficult to switch tunes and translations around.

Now, this all feels wordy to me.  I welcome comments that will help simplify things.

Next in the series, translating the first verse.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Definitions, Part III: bulwark?!

BULWARK: I have no idea what this means.

In the Lutheran tradition we have a ton of words that we use that we assume people know, especially in the liturgy.  Words like Salutary, Nunc Dimittis, Absolution and Collect (this has nothing to do with the gathering offerings, and you place the emphasis on the first syllable).

For example, The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) contains the phrase, "It is truly meet, right and salutary..."

Lutheran Worship (1982) and Lutheran Service Book (2006) changed it up a little to read, "It is truly good, right and salutary..."

On Sunday, someone asked me what salutary meant.  After a brief brainstorm I came up with "beneficial - it's good for us!"

"Are you sure?" I was asked.

I bring all this up because we who have retained lots of big words over the years have not used "bulwark" in our hymnal.

I will leave it up to the readers to explain it.  This may take awhile, because I have all of two readers, and they belong to my tradition!

What I do have, though, is some TABLE TALK RADIO points that I have accumulated.  Yes, this is the Table Talk Radio ... everyone's favorite Lutheran radio program featuring theology within a game show format.

Yes, folks, that's Table Talk Radio ... where the points are like papal primacy to a Lutheran ... they are both good things for him to write about but he has to question the authority of both the points and the pope.

I will give 10 Table Talk Radio points to the person who can tell us all what a "bulwark" is in plain, simple terms.  Please use your own words and not something you found on wikipedia.

There are 10 bonus points on the line if you can provide a link to a photo of one.

I only have around 700 points total, so I must ration them out carefully.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Definitions, Part II: rhythmic

The rhythmic tune probably predates the isorhythmic tune.  It does not fit very nicely into a 3/4 or 4/4 time signature, and even The Lutheran Hymnal (1941, aka TLH) didn't try.  You find a mix of half- and quarter notes, and even a dotted rhythm or two.  Also, as you sing it, you feel like you are going from duple to triple meter. 

For Lutheran Service Book (aka LSB) #656, you get an example right off the bat!

duple meter: A mighty
triple meter: fortress is
duple meter: our God

Another good example is Jesus, I Will Ponder Now.  Here it is in an organ arrangement (.mp3 format), just scroll down to the first track.  Here it is with a rock beat (.mid format), just scroll down to rk140.  Both versions cite TLH as their source.  Both are arranged by Rev. Richard Jordan.  I do not know him, but we thank him for these examples.

triple meter: Jesus, I will
duple meter: ponder now
triple meter: on Thy holy
duple meter: passion

Sloppy playing (or singing) does not capture the duple-triple nature of these rhythmic tunes, so again we thank Rev. Richard Jordan for posting his fine examples to the internet.  It is especially tricky going from one phrase to the other.  The temptation is to hold out the last note longer than necessary before beginning the next phrase.  This does make it easier to sing, because it interrupts the rhythmic nature of the tune.  For you church musicians out there, if you must hold onto that last note a little longer, make it a really short hold, catch a short breath, and move on to the next phrase.

For the modern-classic version of the Rhythmic Mighty Fortress, check this out. LSB is cited.  Lutheran Service Book restored the TLH accompaniment, and I believe the text is the same as well.

For the Hans Leo Hassler's classic-classic version of the Rhythmic Mighty Fortress, check this out.  The group does not use the TLH/LSB text. We are going to come back to this recording when we talk more in-depth about meter.

For Rev. Richard's Rockin' Rhythmic Mighty Fortress inspired by TLH, click here and scroll down to rk262.

There are far fewer recordings of the rhythmic, mostly because we Lutherans might be the only ones who have sought to preserve it, and most hymnals only feature the isorhythmic.

While you can recognize the isorhythmic text when you see the word "bulwark," look for "a trusty shield" in the first few lines of the rhythmic text.

FYI: Luther's German version works best with the rhythmic text.  You can find it over at hymntime.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Definitions, Part I: isorhythmic

Isorhythmic: This refers to the beat of the tune.  An isorhythmic tune is very consistent. The notes tend to fall on the beat, and the rhythm tends to fit nicely in to a 4/4 or a 3/4 time signature.  A straight-up isorhythmic tune might be Let Us Ever Walk With Jesus (LSB 685, for those of you who want to follow along).

You can find an organ-only version of the isorhythmic Fortress here, complete with a humorous beginning from Hi-Fi Hymn Book.  And to mix in a little irony, this one is played at St. Mary's Cathedral in Dayton, OH.

There are a multitude of vocal arrangements featuring the isorhythmic version

• this one from Pacific Lutheran University
  
• this one from Salem Academy (in Salem, Oregon?)
• this one in a classic gospel style featuring Mahalia Jackson
• this one in a modern gospel style, featuring Albert S. Hadley with New Orleans Gospel Soul Children.  Now THAT is an AMEN!!!

The isorhythmic text is found in most hymnals.  It is the first text over at hymntime and cyberhymnal. You can easily recognize it by the word "bulwark" in the first line or two.  We'll save that word for another post.  For those of you using LBW, LW or LSB,  you will find, "a sword and shield" in the first line or two.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Introduction

In Lutheran Service Book, there are two translations of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."

One of those is in the public domain, and the other is not.  We will focus on the "rhythmic" version (LSB 656), as that is the one in public domain.

From there we will look at the "isorhythmic" version found in most other hymnals.

Lastly, there will be some German involved.  My German is a little rusty, and those of you who know the German well are free to make corrections in the comment section.  My mistakes will remain posted on the main page, so be sure to check the comment section for corrections.

As for the isorhythmic version in LSB, we will reference a line or two from each verse, but will not post the full text.

Up next: defining rhythmic and isorhythmic.