Out of the Depths

The Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 29, 2020



The opening words of Psalm 130, appointed for this Sunday, resonate more deeply this Lent. As we face the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our voices rise in prayer for health and healing.

Martin Luther
Martin Luther (1483-1546) wrote the words and music for Hymn 151, "From deepest woe I cry to thee," a metrical version of Psalm 130. Luther, a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation, established the tradition of metrical paraphrases of psalms for congregational singing. This was one of his earliest creations. The tune, Aus tiefer Not, is also attributed to Luther. In the German Lutheran tradition, the hymn was sung frequently for penitential occasions and funerals, and it was associated with the teaching of the catechism. 

As a result, numerous German composers created organ chorales based on Aus tiefer Not. "Organ chorales" are organ compositions based on a "chorale," a German Lutheran hymn tune. At the prelude, we will hear one example by Friederich Wilhelm Zachau (1663-1712). Zachau may be best remembered as Handel's first music teacher. His chorale-based compositions were an influence on the young Johann Sebastian Bach. Hear a recording: Aus tiefer Not

Today's postlude is an organ chorale by Johann Pachelbel based on Martin Luther's best known chorale, Ein feste Burg, "A mighty fortress is our God." (See The Hymnal 1982, 687 and 688.) This metrical paraphrase of Psalm 46 was written in 1527 during an outbreak of the plague in Wittenberg. The concluding stanza speaks to Luther's time, and to ours:

Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill,
God's truth abideth still,
his kingdom is for ever.

Music for the Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 29, 2020

Prelude
Organ chorale: Aus tiefer Not     Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau

Postlude
Organ chorale: Ein feste Burg     Johann Pachelbel


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