This tag was created by James A. Brokaw II. The last update was by Elizabeth Budd.
Nun danket alle Gott BWV 192 / BC A 188
Purpose Not Transmitted, 1730?
This cantata, Nun danket alle Gott BWV 192 (Now thank the God of all), belongs to the relatively small group of compositions in Bach’s oeuvre whose libretti use the unaltered text of a chorale. In this case, the chorale in question is a hymn of three strophes by Martin Rinkart. Rinkart belonged to that unfortunate generation whose existence was defined and determined by the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War. Born in Eilenburg in 1586, he was the same age as Leipzig St. Thomas cantor Johann Hermann Schein. At the age of only fifteen, in 1601, Rinkart began studies in theology at the University of Leipzig. He evidently financed his studies through his musical activities, about which it is said that “his other Muses could be the guests of music and received abundant support from her.” In 1610 he took over the cantorate at St. Nicholas Church in Eisleben, and a bit later he became deacon at St. Anna. His application for a position in the church of his hometown failed because the superintendent believed that Rinkart might have neglected theology in favor of music and philosophy. After an intermediate position as a pastor in Mansfeld he succeeded in winning a post as archdeacon in Eilenburg, where he remained until his death in 1649. The hardships of war, famine, and an epidemic of plague darkened his life during this time. During one epidemic that broke out in 1637, nearly eight thousand people perished, and Rinkart had to escort as many as seventy of the dead to their graves every day. One year later, the privation was so great that—it is often reported—as many as forty people would fight one another over a dead crow fallen from the air, and twenty or more people would pursue a dog or cat to catch and slaughter it. In addition to these miseries, there were excessive demands for war tributes that also affected Rinkart’s property.In view of such a situation, it is understandable that several legends have grown up around the origins of the hymn Nun danket alle Gott. One of these connects the chorale to very promising peace negotiations between Sweden and the French in 1643 and 1644, which paved the way for the truce later known as the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. But today it is regarded as certain that Rinkart’s hymn actually dates from 1636, well before the outbreak of pestilence and famine in Eilenburg. We have no further details as to the hymn’s purpose. In a later edition, the chorale appears beneath the heading “Tischgebetlein” (Grace at table) and another titled “Danklied der lobsingenden Gotteskinder” (Song of thanksgiving of God’s children singing praises). Rinkart’s verses are praised for their naive interiority of sentiment and power of expression, which made the hymn a “worthy complement to the Ambrosian song of praise” (würdigen Seitenstück zum Ambrosianischen Lobgesang)—the Te Deum Laudamus for the Protestant Church.
Rinkart found his poetic model in the works of his close friend and fellow Silesian Johannes Heermann. Verses from the prayer of thanksgiving in one of the Apocryphal books of the Bible, Sirach 50, are thought to be the source of the poem’s content:
Nun danket alle Gott, der große Dinge tut an allen Enden, der uns von Mutterleib an lebendig erhält und tut uns alles Gute. Er gebe uns ein fröhlich Herz und verleihe immerdar Frieden zu unsrer Zeit in Israel, und daß seine Gnade stets bei uns bleibe; und erlöse uns, solange wir leben. (22–24)
Now thank the God of all, who does great things everywhere, who sustains us in life from the womb and does all good things for our benefit. May he give us a joyous heart, and may he bestow peace in our time in Israel and forever, and that his grace may ever remain with us and may redeem us, so long as we shall live.
From this, Martin Rinkart shaped the first two strophes of his hymn, with much of the text taken literally from the Luther translation:
Nun danket alle Gott
Mit Herzen, Mund und Händen,
Der große Dinge tut
An uns an allen Enden,
Der uns von Mutterleib
Und Kindesbeinen an
Unzählig viel zugut
Und noch jetzund getan.
Der ewig reiche Gott
Woll uns bei unserm Leben
Ein immer fröhlich Herz
Und edlen Frieden geben
Und uns in seiner Gnad
Erhalten fort und fort
Und uns in aller Not
Erlösen hier und dort.
Now thank you all God
With hearts, voice, and hands,
Who does great things
For us to all purposes,
Who for us from the womb
And childhood onward
Has done countless things
And still continues to do.
May the ever-bounteous God
Grant us in our lives
An ever-joyous heart
And noble peace
And in his grace
Preserve us on and on
And, in all affliction,
Redeem us here and there.
Rinkart’s third strophe makes no reference at all to the book of Sirach as it continues with praise of the Trinity.
Bach’s composition of this three-strophe chorale text has been handed down to us without an express purpose or occasion, and the very generalized, festive nature of the hymn does not suggest one. [Please see the addendum.—Trans.] Virtually all possibilities are open, from wedding and birthday to Reformation Day to town council election. The chorale is thought to have originated in 1730 or in the first few months of the following year. Based on the appearance of its performing parts, the solo cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen BWV 51 can be regarded as a sister work. But since that cantata was originally written for all times in the church calendar, it can offer no clue as to the occasion for which the cantata Nun danket alle Gott was written. An additional problem for our cantata arises from the fact that no score, either autograph or copy, has been handed down to us. Only a single movement has been preserved, in original performing parts, for which the usual folder with details of scoring is missing. Even so, it is clear that one part for tenor must be expanded, and filling this lacuna presents no particular problem. Whether Bach’s composition required any brass instruments in addition to the strings and woodwinds (two horns seem likely; this would assume that their performing parts have gone astray as well) is a question that must remain undecided at present.
The cantata’s opening movement follows the model seen at every turn in Bach’s annual cycle of chorale cantatas: the chorale melody presented phrase by phrase in long note values by the sopranos, the other voices providing motet-like counterpoint, the whole unified by an independent concertante instrumental component. However, this movement presents a unique feature in that the soprano is not limited to the chorale melody but participates in the motet-like material at several points, at times quite extensively.
The second movement, a duet for soprano and bass, combines the imitative writing in the voices, clearly related to the chorale melody, with a regular periodic phrase structure in the instrumental part that lends the whole the character of a solemn, slow dance.
The festive and dance-like character of the closing choral movement, with its
8 meter akin to the round dance, is even more pronounced. At first glance, the roles of the voices and instruments seem similar to the opening movement. Yet here the instrumental part, compared to the “classic model” of opening movements in the chorale cantata annual cycle, is more figural than concertante, and the voices accompanying the soprano seem restrained despite all their animated agility. And so, despite its similarity to the basic design of the first movement, this closing movement is more in the tradition of the closing chorale movement with figural episodes.