"" ("It is enough") is a German Lutheran hymn, 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 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 expresses in the First Book of Kings: "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 whole tone 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, sometimes called '' diabolus in musica'' (devil in music). Alfred Dürr 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 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