"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" (originally written in the

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

with the title ) is one of the best known

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

s by the

Protestant Reformer Protestant Reformers were those theologians whose careers, works and actions brought about the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. In the context of the Reformation, Martin Luther was the first reformer (sharing his views publicly in 15 ...

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

, a prolific

hymnwriter A hymnwriter (or hymn writer, hymnist, hymnodist, hymnographer, etc.) is someone who writes the text, music, or both of hymns. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the composition of hymns dates back to before the time of David, who composed many of ...

. Luther wrote the words and composed the hymn tune between 1527 and 1529. Julian, John, ed., ''A Dictionary of Hymnology: Setting forth the Origin and History of Christian Hymns of All Ages and Nations'', Second revised edition, 2 vols., n.p., 1907, reprint, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1957, 1:322–25 It has been translated into English at least seventy times and also into many other languages. The words are mostly original, although the first line paraphrases that of

Psalm 46 Psalm 46 is the 46th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin V ...

.Marilyn Kay Stulken, ''Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship'' (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981), 307–08, nos. 228–229.

History

"A Mighty Fortress" is one of the best known hymns of the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

tradition, and among

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

more generally. It has been called the "Battle Hymn of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

" for the effect it had in increasing the support for the Reformers' cause.

John Julian John Julian (March 26, 1733) was a mixed-blood pirate who operated in the New World, as the pilot of the ship '' Whydah''. Julian joined pirate Samuel Bellamy, and became the pilot of Bellamy's '' Whydah'' when he was probably only 16 years of a ...

records four theories of its origin: * Heinrich Heine: "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" was sung by Luther and his companions as they entered

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...

on 16 April 1521 for the

Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

; * K. F. T. Schneider: it was a tribute to Luther's friend Leonhard Kaiser, who was executed on 16 August 1527; *

Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné (16 August 179421 October 1872) was a Swiss Protestant minister and historian of the Reformation. Life Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné was born at Eaux Vives, a neighbourhood of Geneva. A street in the area is named after ...

: it was sung by the German Lutheran princes as they entered Augsburg for the Diet in 1530, at which the

Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession, also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Protestant Re ...

was presented; and * Some scholars believe that Luther composed it in connection with the

Diet of Speyer (1529) The Diet of Speyer or the Diet of Spires (sometimes referred to as Speyer II) was a Diet of the Holy Roman Empire held in 1529 in the Imperial City of Speyer (located in present-day Germany). The Diet condemned the results of the Diet of Spe ...

, at which the German Lutheran princes lodged their protest to

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Charles V, who wanted to enforce his 1521

Edict of Worms The Diet of Worms of 1521 (german: Reichstag zu Worms ) was an imperial diet (a formal deliberative assembly) of the Holy Roman Empire called by Emperor Charles V and conducted in the Imperial Free City of Worms. Martin Luther was summoned to t ...

. Alternatively, John M. Merriman writes that the hymn "began as a martial song to inspire soldiers against the Ottoman forces" during the

Ottoman wars in Europe A series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and various European states took place from the Late Middle Ages up through the early 20th century. The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia in ...

. The earliest extant hymnal in which it appears is that of Andrew Rauscher (1531). It is believed to have been included in Joseph Klug's Wittenberg hymnal of 1529, of which no copy remains. Its title was . Before that it is believed to have appeared in Hans Weiss Wittenberg's hymnal of 1528, also lost. This evidence supports Luther having written it between 1527 and 1529, because Luther's hymns were printed shortly after he wrote them.

Lyrics

German lyrics, with the English-language version of

Frederic Henry Hedge Frederic Henry Hedge (December 12, 1805 – August 21, 1890) was a New England Unitarian minister and Transcendentalist. He was a founder of the Transcendental Club, originally called Hedge's Club, and active in the development of Transcendent ...

Tune

Luther composed the melody, named from the text's first line, in

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

87.87.55.56.7 ( Zahn No. 7377a). This is sometimes denoted "rhythmic tune" to distinguish it from the later isometric variant, in 87.87.66.66.7-meter (Zahn No. 7377d), which is more widely known and used in Christendom. In 1906 Edouard Rœhrich wrote, "The authentic form of this melody differs very much from that which one sings in most Protestant churches and figures in ( Giacomo Meyerbeer's) '' The Huguenots''. ... The original melody is , by the way it bends to all the nuances of the text ..." While 19th-century

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

s disputed Luther's authorship of the music to the hymn, that opinion has been modified by more recent research; it is now the consensus view of musical scholars that Luther did indeed compose the famous tune to go with the words.

Reception

Heinrich Heine wrote in his 1834 essay , a history of emancipation in Germany beginning with the

, that was the

Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

of the Reformation. This "imagery of battle" is also present in some translations, such as that of Thomas Carlyle (which begins "A safe stronghold our God is still"). In Germany, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" was historically also used as a patriotic paean, which is why it was regularly sung at nationalistic events such as the Wartburg Festival in 1817. This patriotic undertone of the hymn emanates from its importance for the Reformation in general, which was regarded by the

not only as a religious but as a national movement delivering Germany from

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

oppression. Furthermore, the last line of the fourth stanza of the German text, "Das Reich muss uns doch bleiben," which is generally translated into English as "The Kingdom's ours forever," referring to the Kingdom of God, may also be interpreted as meaning the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

must remain with the Germans. The song is reported to have been used as a battle anthem during the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

by forces under

King Gustavus Adolphus Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...

, Lutheran

king of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parliamentary system: see the Instrument o ...

. This idea was exploited by some 19th-century poets, such as Karl Curths, although there exists no primary source which supports this. The hymn had been translated into Swedish already in 1536, presumably by

Olaus Petri Olof Persson, sometimes Petersson (6 January 1493 – 19 April 1552), better known under the Latin form of his name, Olaus Petri (or less commonly, Olavus Petri), was a clergyman, writer, judge, and major contributor to the Protestant Reformatio ...

, with the

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...

, "Vår Gud är oss en väldig borg". In the late 19th century the song also became an anthem of the early Swedish socialist movement. In addition to being consistently popular throughout Western Christendom in Protestant hymnbooks, it is now a suggested hymn for

Catholic Mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass, "the same Christ ...

es in the U.S., and appears in the ''Catholic Book of Worship'' published by the Canadian Catholic Conference in 1972. The eventful history and reception of ''A Mighty Fortress Is Our God'' has been presented interactively in Lutherhaus Eisenach’s revamped permanent exhibition since 2022.

English translations

The first English translation was by

Myles Coverdale Myles Coverdale, first name also spelt Miles (1488 – 20 January 1569), was an English ecclesiastical reformer chiefly known as a Bible translator, preacher and, briefly, Bishop of Exeter (1551–1553). In 1535, Coverdale produced the first ...

in 1539 with the title, "Oure God is a defence and towre". The first English translation in "common usage" was "God is our Refuge in Distress, Our strong Defence" in J.C. Jacobi's ''Psal. Ger.'', 1722, p. 83. An English version less literal in translation but more popular among Protestant denominations outside Lutheranism is "A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing", translated by Frederick H. Hedge in 1853. Another popular English translation is by

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

and begins "A safe stronghold our God is still". Most North American

churches have not historically used either the Hedge or Carlyle translations. Traditionally, the most commonly used translation in Lutheran congregations is a composite translation from the 1868 ''Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book'' ("A mighty fortress is our God, a trusty shield and weapon"). In more recent years a new translation completed for the 1978 ''

Lutheran Book of Worship The ''Lutheran Book of Worship'' (''LBW'') is a worship book and hymnal used by several Lutheran denominations in North America. Additional hymns and service music are contained in the companions, ''Hymnal Supplement 1991'' and ''With One Vo ...

'' ("A mighty fortress is our God, a sword and shield victorious") has also gained significant popularity.

Compositions based on the hymn

The hymn has been used by numerous composers, including

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

. There is a version for organ, BWV 720, written early in his career, possibly for the organ at

Divi Blasii , native_name_lang = German , image = Blasiikirche Mühlhausen (Thüringen).jpg , caption = Side view, facing southeast , pushpin map = Thuringia#Germany , pushpin label position = , map c ...

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a city in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen. Mühlhausen was first mentioned in 967 and bec ...

. He used the hymn as the basis of his

chorale cantata A chorale cantata is a church cantata based on a chorale—in this context a Lutheran chorale. It is principally from the Germany, German Baroque music, Baroque era. The organizing principle is the words and music of a Lutheran hymn. Usually a chora ...

''Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott'', BWV 80 written for a celebration of Reformation Day. Bach also set the tune twice in his ''Choralgesänge'' (''Choral Hymns''), BWV 302 and BWV 303 (for four voices). Two orchestrations of Bach's settings were made by conductors

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...

and

Walter Damrosch Walter Johannes Damrosch (January 30, 1862December 22, 1950) was a German-born American conductor and composer. He was the director of the New York Symphony Orchestra and conducted the world premiere performances of various works, including Geo ...

Dieterich Buxtehude Dieterich Buxtehude (; ; born Diderik Hansen Buxtehude; c. 1637 – 9 May 1707) was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal a ...

also wrote an organ chorale setting (BuxWV 184), as did Johann Pachelbel.

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

used fragments of the melody in his oratorio ''

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

''.

Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hild ...

also made a choral arrangement of this hymn and prominently used an extract of the verses beginning ''Mit unsrer Macht ist nichts getan'' in his famous ''Donnerode''.

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

used it as the theme for the fourth and final movement of his Symphony No. 5, Op. 107 (1830), which he named ''Reformation'' in honor of the Reformation started by Luther. Joachim Raff wrote an Overture (for orchestra), ''Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott'', Op. 127. Giacomo Meyerbeer quoted it in his five-act grand opera ''

Les Huguenots () is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836. Composition history ...

'' (1836), and

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

used it as a "motive" in his "Kaisermarsch" ("Emperor's March"), which was composed to commemorate the return of

Kaiser Wilhelm I William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the f ...

from the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. Two organ settings were written by

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University ...

: his chorale fantasia ''Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott'', Op. 27, and a much shorter chorale prelude as No. 6 of his 52 Chorale Preludes, Op. 67, in 1902.

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

quoted the theme in his suite for piano duet, ''

En blanc et noir ''En blanc et noir'' (; en, "In White and Black"), L. 134, CD. 142, is a suite in three movements for two pianos by Claude Debussy, written in June 1915. He composed the work on the Normandy coast, suffering from cancer and concerned about the in ...

''.

Alexander Glazunov Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov; ger, Glasunow (, 10 August 1865 – 21 March 1936) was a Russian composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Russian Romantic period. He was director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 ...

quoted the melody in his ''Finnish Fantasy'', Op. 88.

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

used the tune in his score for the film '' 49th Parallel'', most obviously when the German U-boat surfaces in Hudson Bay shortly after the beginning of the film.

Flor Peeters Franciscus Florentinus Peeters, Baron Peeters (4 July 1903 – 4 July 1986) was a Belgian composer, organist and academic teacher. He was director of the Conservatorium in Antwerp, Belgium, and organist at Mechelen Cathedral from 1923 to his deat ...

wrote an organ chorale setting "Ein feste Burg" as part of his Ten Chorale Preludes, Op. 69, published in 1949. More recently it has been used by band composers to great effect in pieces such as ''Psalm 46'' by

John Zdechlik John Zdechlik (''Zuh-DECK-lik''; May 2, 1937 – May 21, 2020) was an American composer, music teacher, and conductor. Zdechlik was elected to the American Bandmasters Association and many of his compositions became standard concert band reper ...

and ''The Holy War'' by Ray Steadman-Allen. The hymn also features in ''Luther'', an opera by Kari Tikka that premiered in 2000. It has also been used by African-American composer Julius Eastman in his 1979 work ''Gay Guerrilla'', composed for an undefined number of instruments and familiar in its recorded version for 4 pianos. Eastman's use of the hymn can arguably be seen as simultaneously a claim for inclusion in the tradition of "classical" composition, as well as a subversion of that very same tradition.

Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer. Biography Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...

quoted the hymn, paraphrased as "Ein feste Burg ist unser Bach", in his oratorio ''

Sankt-Bach-Passion ''Sankt-Bach-Passion'' (Saint Bach Passion) is an oratorio composed by Mauricio Kagel in 1985 for the tricentenary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach. It follows the model of Bach's Passions, but the topic is not biblical, rather refers to Bach ...

'', which tells Bach's life and was composed for the tricentenary of Bach's birth in 1985.

Nancy Raabe Nancy Elizabeth Miller Raabe (born 1954) is an American clergy member, author, and composer. She is the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. Early life and education Raabe was born in 1954. She graduated from Pomona Colleg ...

composed a concertato on the hymn using organ, assembly, trumpet, and tambourine, the only such composition by a female composer.

References

Bibliography

* Commission on Worship of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. ''Lutheran Worship''. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1982. ISBN * Julian, John, ed. ''A Dictionary of Hymnology: Setting forth the Origin and History of Christian Hymns of all Ages and Nations''. Second revised edition. 2 vols. n.p., 1907. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1957. * Pelikan, Jaroslav and Lehmann, Helmut, eds. ''Luther's Works''. Vol. 53, ''Liturgy and Hymns''. St. Louis, Concordia Publishing House, 1965. . * Polack, W. G. ''The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal''. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1942. * Rœhrich, E. ''Les Origines du Choral Luthérien''. Paris: Librairie Fischbacher, 1906. * Stulken, Marilyn Kay. ''Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship''. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981.

External links

* *
"Ein feste Burg"
sung by the Wartburg Choir (in German)
"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"
sung by the

Choir of King's College, Cambridge The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It is considered one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great English choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's Col ...

"Ein feste Burg"
sung in the original rhythm (Evangelische Landeskirche in Württemberg) (in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mighty Fortress Is Our God, A 1529 works 16th-century Christian texts 16th-century hymns in German A Mighty Fortress Is Our God Hymn tunes Hymns by Martin Luther German patriotic songs