"" ("It is enough") is a German

Lutheran hymn Martin Luther was a great enthusiast for music, and this is why it forms a large part of Lutheran services; in particular, Luther admired the composers Josquin des Prez and Ludwig Senfl and wanted singing in the church to move away from the '' ...

, with text by

Franz Joachim Burmeister Franz Joachim Burmeister (29 October 1633 – 21 April 1672) was a German Protestant hymn writer. Born in Lüneburg, Burmeister was the son of the church musician (''Kantor'') at St. Michaelis, Lüneburg, St. Michaelis in Lüneburg, Anton Burmeiste ...

, written in 1662. The melody, Zahn No. 7173, was written by

Johann Rudolph Ahle Johann Rudolph Ahle (24 December 1625 – 9 July 1673) was a German composer, organist, theorist, and Protestant church musician. Biography Ahle was born in Mühlhausen, Thuringia. While not much is known of his early musical training, he attende ...

who collaborated with the poet. It begins with a sequence of three consecutive rising

whole tone In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more deta ...

intervals. The hymn's last stanza was used by

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 ...

as the closing chorale of his cantata ''O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort'', BWV 60. His

setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...

has been quoted in music, notably in Alban Berg's Violin Concerto.

History

wrote "" in 1662. The topic is a yearning for death. It is inspired by the sentiment the prophet

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...

expresses in the

First Book of Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...

: "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers" (). All seven stanzas begin and end with the line "". It was printed in 1844 in the hymnal ''Gesangbuch zum gottesdienstlichen Gebrauche in den Stadtkirchen zu Leipzig'' (''Hymnal for Use in the Service of the Town Churches of Leipzig''), in the section "Vorbereitung auf den Tod" ("Of the preparation for death").

Melody and settings

The melody, also from 1662, is by

, who collaborated with Burmeister on several hymns. He was church musician 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 ...

in Mühlhausen, a position Bach later also held. The tune begins with an unusual motif of three upward

intervals, the first half of a

whole tone scale In music, a whole-tone scale is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole tone. In twelve-tone equal temperament, there are only two complementary whole-tone scales, both six-note or ''hexatonic'' sc ...

and also the first three notes of the diatonic

Lydian mode The modern Lydian mode is a seven-tone musical scale formed from a rising pattern of pitches comprising three whole tones, a semitone, two more whole tones, and a final semitone. : Because of the importance of the major scale in modern music ...

. The interval from the first to the fourth note is a

tritone In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval composed of three adjacent whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three a ...

, sometimes called ''

diabolus in musica ''Diabolus in Musica'' (Latin for "The Devil in Music") is the eighth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on June 9, 1998, by American Recordings. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman wrote most of the album's content, which has be ...

'' (devil in music).

Alfred Dürr Alfred Dürr (3 March 1918 – 7 April 2011) was a German musicologist. He was a principal editor of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the second edition of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Professional career Dürr studied musicology and Clas ...

writes that the opening "might have been felt outrageous" at the time of its composition, "only justified as a musical figure depicting the soul's crossing over from life into death". Bach used the hymn's last stanza to conclude his cantata ''O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort'', BWV 60, and it has often been quoted, notably in Alban Berg's

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

. Berg wrote

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individuals ...

on the

chorale Chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one of the t ...

in the concerto's last movement. It was his last finished work. Otto Klemperer wrote in the newspaper ''Wiener Tag'' on 21 October 1936: "The second movement begins with the J. S. Bach chorale 'Es ist genug': 'It is enough! Lord, if it please Thee, my Jesus, come! World, good night. I go to the heavenly house, with a heart full of joy. My sorrows remain below.' The variations on this chorale, the sounds that emanate from the violin, that bring into being a completely new world for the instrument, the way in which at the conclusion the music seems to span the cosmos, from the lowest depths to the sublime heights".

References

External links

*
BWV 60.5
bach-chorales.com

Bach Cantatas Website

Bach Cantatas Website * ttp://volksmusik-forschung.de/datenbank/lied.html?id=125338 Es ist genug; so nimm nun meinen Geist // Es ist genugVolksmusik-Forschung {{German Lutheran hymns Lutheran hymns 17th-century hymns in German 1658 works