Cantata BWV 80Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott

Playlist

Purchase at Amazon

---

Translation

---

Analysis

This is a complicated libretto! Movements 1, 5 and 8 are verbatim versions of verses 1, 3 and 4 of the original Luther Hymn (so are here represented in their 19th Century English Translation by Frederic Henry Hedge. Movement 2 is also a verbatim transcription from the hymn (this time, verse 2), but is interspersed with text by Salomon Franck (who also wrote the rest of the non-Hymn text). For this verse, therefore, the Hymn text appears in Hedge's English translation (sung by the Soprano, and in italic text), whereas Franck's new text is 'freshly translated' by yours truly.

---