In letters written between 1834 and 1836, Georges Sand traced the developments of Romanticism and provided a narrative for its artistic, religious, and social aspects. Giacomo Meyerbeer's borrowing of Martin Luther's Ein feste Burg in Les Huguenots is one such example of an emerging Romantic aesthetic. Even though Meyerbeer turned to an older German chorale form in his opera, he updated it to become Romantic by using the tune as "local color" for crowd scenes on the stage and in particular for Huguenots. Meyerbeer effectively truncated the tune in a culminating scene in Act V, in which Catholic assassins enter, and the Huguenots stop singing it. Throughout the opera, Ein feste Burg signifies perseverance in the face of religious persecution.

Works: Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (92-93).

Sources: Luther: Ein feste Burg (92).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Luther's chorale Ein feste Burg represents not only a religious message but also a symbol of the identity of all Protestants. Its many settings reflect both its religious and its cultural impact. Many composers identified with the revolutionary spirit the Reformation and saw the potential of the tune as a symbol of the time and its historical significance. Depending on the political context in which composers used the tune, the meaning of it changed. For example, Meyerbeer used it in Les Huguenots as a gesture to Protestantism, even though the tune was not necessarily a historical emblem for Huguenots. Mendelssohn's symphonic setting added a programmatic element to the tune. Debussy, on the other hand, used the tune in wartime by evoking it as a symbol of German aggression. He juxtaposed the tune with French anthem, La Marseillaise, which musically triumphs over Ein feste Burg in the end. The various settings of the tune also allow it to assume a multifarious spectrum in that it can be meaningful in an ecumenical sense. Essentially, it became a "banner Lied" for faithful believers and critics across centuries of use.

Works: Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (36); Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Reformation (37-39); Debussy: En blanc et noir (39-40).

Sources: Luther: Ein feste Burg (29-34, 40-41).

Index Classifications: 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Luther's Ein feste Burg resembles the B-A-C-H motive in that it signifies something outside of its musical character. In addition, Ein feste Burg begins with four memorable notes, comparable not only to the four notes of B-A-C-H but also to the striking four-note opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Insofar as Ein feste Burg has a broader function outside of its musical characteristics, it epitomizes the powerful and energetic voice of evangelical Christianity, in a tradition began by Luther. Bach felt deeply moved by the religious sentiments of the tune and set it in a cantata with eight movements. Meyerbeer altered the tune more than Bach did and subjected it to various musical treatments, including theme and variations as well as parody, in Les Huguenots. The Romantic generation in particular responded to the tune in various compositional manners, especially by means of reinstrumentation and paraphrase technique, including settings by Mendelssohn, Nicolai, and many others. Wagner set the tune in his Kaisermarsch in order to evoke the sense of driving away the enemy. All of these settings discussed seek to maintain the spirit of the tune. The prolific uses of the tune reinforce the religious connotations that Luther intended. Although the B-A-C-H motive is not specifically associated with a source, many composers, including Schumann, Rimsky-Korsakov, Liszt, and others incorporate it in various ways into their works.

Works: J. S. Bach: Ein feste Burg, BWV 720 (7); Beethoven: Gott ist eine feste Burg, WoO 188 (7); Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (8); Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Reformation (9-10); Nicolai: Kirchliche Fest-Ouvertüre über "Ein feste Burg" (10); Heinrich Karl Breidenstein: Grosse Variationen über "Ein feste Burg" für Orgel (10); Friedrich Lux: "Ein feste Burg" Konzertfantasie für Orgel (10); H. Schellenberg: Fantasie über "Ein feste Burg" (10); Karl Stern: Präludium und Fuge über "Ein feste Burg" (10); Karl August Fischer: Präludium und Fuge über "Ein feste Burg" für Orgel mit Blasinstrumenten (10); Wagner: Kaisermarsch (11); Raff: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, Op. 127 (11-12); Reinecke: Zur Reformationsfeier (12); Heinrich Schulz-Beuthen: Reformationssinfonie (12); Richard Bartmuss: Liturgischen Feiern No. 5, Reformation (13); Heinrich Pfannschmidt: Reformationsfestspeil (13); Hans Fährmann: Fantasie und Doppelfuge für Orgel über "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott," Op. 28 (13); Reger: Chorale fantasia "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (14), Schumann: Sechs Fugen über den Namen Bach, Op. 60 (16-17); Rimsky-Korsakov: Sechs Stücker über BACH, Op. 10 (17-18); Liszt: Präludium und Fuge über Bach (18-19); Wilhelm Middelschultes: Kanonische Fantasie über BACH und Fugue über vier Themen von J. S. Bach (19); Hans Fährmann: Orgelsonata in B moll, Op. 17 (19-20), Vorspiel und Doppelfuge für Orgel (20); Georg Schumann: Passacaglia und Finale für Orgel, Op. 39 (20).

Sources: Luther: Ein feste Burg (7-8).

Index Classifications: 1700s, 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

One of the most striking elements in Debussy's wartime compositions, including the piano sonata En blanc et noir and the song Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison, among other pieces, is his tendency to politicize his music. He wrote during a time in which the French government had great control over cultural products, and his musical language reflects this. Accompanying this polemic are notable instances of borrowing in En blanc et noir and Noël des enfants. Debussy dedicated the second movement of En blanc et noir, "Lent et sombre," to his friend Lt. Jacques Charlot, who was killed in World War I. In order to create a solemn character, Debussy used nonfunctional and static harmonies, evoking a "funeral drone." In doing so, he stylistically alluded to the Renaissance tombeau, a piece to mourn the dead, often used by Clément Janequin. Further, he used Luther's hymn Ein feste Burg within a discordant setting, deliberately removing it of its triumphal qualities. In Noël des enfants, Debussy also used stylistic allusion, in this case to Schubert, by recalling the "menacing" and "ironic" character of Erlkönig. He evoked the spirit of Schubert's song by using a child as the subject of the song and by composing a fast-paced, vigorous accompaniment. In addition, Debussy employed structural modeling by basing the song on a Lied. His instances of borrowing serve a larger role within the political framework of the French republic.

Works: Debussy: En blanc et noir (216-20); Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison (220).

Sources: Luther: Ein feste Burg (218-19); Schubert: Erlkönig (220).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Perhaps the quintessential Lutheran hymn, Ein feste Burg embodies Martin Luther's faith and had lasting musical effects, not only on his own generation but also on generations of composers to come. The verse structure of Psalm 46 appealed to Luther most strongly in the last line, which stands on its own in the rhyme scheme and makes the text more powerful, as though one could reduce the psalm to a simple statement of faith. Further, Luther's musical setting, with three repeated notes to begin the tune, made a lasting impression on future composers. Some composers, such as J. S. Bach and Mendelssohn, use the tune in order to let it emerge from a complex texture, reinforcing its victorious and ultimately religious connotations. Others, including Meyerbeer, use the tune for programmatic rather than religious purposes, as the tune accompanies "undressing girls." The diversity of uses, whether religious or not, reflects the lasting power of Luther's original.

Works: J. S. Bach: "Ein feste Burg" from In Festo Reformationis, BWV 80 (166); Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (167); Reinecke: Zur Reformationsfeier, Op. 191 (167); Wagner: Huldigungsmarsch (167); Nicolai: Kirchliche Fest-Ouvertüre über "Ein feste Burg" (167); Raff: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, Op.127 (167); Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Reformation (167-68).

Sources: Martin Luther: Ein feste Burg (159-66).

Index Classifications: 1700s, 1800s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Luther's hymn Ein feste Burg falls into a category of many tunes with a revolutionary cause, from La Marseillaise to John Brown's Body, because it signifies the German Reformation and the religious triumph of Lutheranism. Indeed, Luther's hymn emerges from a vernacular tradition, not only in the translation of the Bible into German, but also in the poetic and musical union meant to appeal to the people in the entire congregation rather than to specific members of the choir and clergy. J. S. Bach, inspired by many Lutheran chorales, chose to exhibit this piece for a Festival of 1730, marking the Bicentenary of the Confession of Augsburg in which the Protestants declared the aims of the Lutheran church. Bach entitled his setting In Festo Reformationis, and he meant for it to represent his piety. Some movements, including the soprano and bass duet as well as the bass recitative, feature the relatively unembellished tune to evoke its military and unifying purposes. In a more complex setting, the chorale fantasia on verse one, Bach uses the tune as a cantus firmus embedded within a set of variations. In addition, later composers such as Mendelssohn and Roderick-Jones, like Bach, use the tune to invoke powerful religious sentiment, whereas Meyerbeer strips it of its religious content and uses it to accompany a ceremonial march.

Works: J. S. Bach: In Festo Reformationis, BWV 80 (16-47); Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Reformation (46); Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (46); Richard Roderick-Jones: Chanticleer (46).

Sources: Luther: Ein feste Burg (9-15).

Index Classifications: 1700s, 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Applying the technique of a "song profile," or the compositional and performance history of a tune that reveals socially constructed meanings, to Irving Berlin's Blue Skies reveals several borrowings that suggest reinterpretation. Many of Berlin's songs reflect a Jewish tradition, incorporating modal mixture and chromatic inflection. Although this tradition is not uniquely Jewish, listeners interpreted as such in Manhattan in Berlin's day. Looking at the tune history of Blue Skies demonstrates the shift from its Jewish origins in the 1920s to subsequent revisions that change its ethnic associations. A performer such as Belle Baker, for example, who sang the song in Betsy, attempted to identify directly with Jewish culture, whereas Al Jolson, who played straightforward and jazzy renditions in The Jazz Singer, gave the song, in addition to its Jewish characteristics, jazz overtones. Benny Goodman and Mary Lou Williams employed allusion; Bing Crosby crooned a slow, balladic version and marketed it toward a broader, Caucasian, middle-class audience. Through contrafact, Thelonius Monk virtually disguised the source in In Walked Bud, while Ella Fitzgerald used scat. Willie Nelson and Pete Seeger reinterpreted the song further to represent an American folk song. Above all, the transcendent power of the tune proves the "assimilative power of Jewish culture" and effectively reinforces its roots.

Works: Rodgers and Hart: Betsy (552-57); Berlin: Blue Skies as performed by Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (557-59), Fletcher Henderson and Benny Goodman (559-63); Mary Lou Williams: Trumpet No End, arrangement for Duke Ellington (560-62); Berlin: Blue Skies as performed by Bing Crosby (563-65); Thelonius Monk: In Walked Bud (566-69); Berlin: Blue Skies as performed by Ella Fitzgerald (569-70), Willie Nelson (570-71), Pete Seeger (571-72).

Sources: Berlin: Blue Skies (537-38, 540-44, 547, 549-52, 572-73).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz, Popular

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

During the time of the Bach revival he led, Mendelssohn modeled many of his compositions upon the style of J. S. Bach. Mendelssohn used J. S. Bach's setting of Ein feste Burg in the fourth movement of his "Reformation" Symphony and incorporated the chorale into a programmatic setting. Meyerbeer subjected Ein feste Burg to variation treatment interspersed with the typical structural elements of a sonata-form movement. With the bridge to the recapitulation, Meyerbeer blurred the formal distinctions between the chorale and the symphonic sonata movement in order to suggest a choral movement. This alludes to the choral movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, even though Meyerbeer does not actually use a chorus. The other movements also include quotations, including a Catholic "Dresden Amen" in the first movement and allusion to Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte in the second movement.

Works: Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Reformation (111-37).

Sources: J. S. Bach: "Ein feste Burg" from In festo Reformationis, BWV 80 (112, 114-20, 122-24); Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor (113); Mozart: Cosi fan Tutte (131-32).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Characteristics of Martin Luther's quintessential chorale, Ein feste Burg, the text of which is taken from Psalm 46, suggest so strong a spirit of revolutionary heroism that several composers responded to it. In addition, many qualities of the tune suggest a folk characteristic, contributing in part to the great response the tune received. In particular, the "defiant" tones of the opening stanza evoke a "battle-song" of liberty in the face of the enemy. Many composers adapted the melody of the tune and devised new harmonies for it. A common eighteenth-century adjustment, for example, was to remove the syncopation from the tune, a tradition begun by J. S. Bach in his cantatas. Subsequent composers, including Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer, retained Bach's adaptation of the melody in their own settings.

Works: J. S. Bach: In festo Reformationis, BWV 80, Ein feste Burg, BWV 720 (248); Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Reformation (248); Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (248).

Sources: Luther: Ein feste Burg (247-49).

Index Classifications: 1700s, 1800s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Aaron Copland's use of quotation, harmony, and rhythm in Mood for Piano no. 3, "Jazzy," written before he departed Brooklyn for Paris, reveals important features of his aesthetics. The piece, though obscure, represents Copland's ability to blend popular and classical styles. The opening of the first theme of "Jazzy" resembles openings in Tin Pan Alley hits such as Alexander's Ragtime Band and Oh Joe, With Your Fiddle and Bow, with "slangy lyrics" and ragtime rhythms. The second theme in "Jazzy" quotes the tune My Buddy, popular in the World War I era. Copland paraphrased the tune in "Jazzy" and changed the meter from triple to duple. He retained the chromaticism of the original, found in the melody and the harmony. In addition to these quotations and allusions, Copland may have used Leo Ornstein's Three Moods for Piano as a structural model for "Jazzy." Some of Copland's sonorities resemble Scriabin's "mystic chord." He also uses the chromatic shifts present in the bridge of Zez Confrey's Kitten on the Keys as a basis for his more dramatic chromaticism. Overall, Copland uses parody to satirize popular songs, to use jazz rhythms in a new way, and to borrow modern harmonies and make them accessible.

Works: Copland: Mood for Piano no. 3, "Jazzy" (277-82, 289-93).

Sources: Berlin: Alexander's Ragtime Band (282); Walter Donaldson: Oh, Joe, With Your Fiddle and Bow (You Stole My Heart Away) (282); Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson: My Buddy (283-89, 292); Ornstein: Three Moods for Piano (290); Confrey: Kitten on the Keys (291).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Luther's powerful Ein feste Burg has important historical properties that apply to the analysis of its melody as it appears in twentieth-century band literature. Composers who set the tune were attracted to its religious message as well as the opportunity to reset the melody into a new genre. Warren Benson's The Leaves Are Falling, inspired by a poem from Rainer Maria Rilke, resembles an orchestral tone poem in its instrumentation. Benson composed the piece after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He parodies Ein feste Burg throughout in order to give the listener a simultaneous sense of austerity, in the presence of the tune, and loss, in its fragmentation. John Zdechlik's Psalm 46 and James Curnow's Rejouissance quote short portions of the tune in variation and save a complete quotation for the end of the piece. Gordon Jacob's Tribute to Canterbury uses the tune to pay homage to the Kings School in Canterbury and likens Luther's struggle to Canterbury's "ability to survive and grow in times of religious turbulence." In his three-movement cyclical setting, Jacob uses the theme as a unifying element and incorporates it into each movement. Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, composed by Elliot Del Borgo, never quotes the entirety of the hymn but rather relies on the familiarity of the first phrase throughout. Del Borgo evokes the spirit of the hymn as a tribute to "comfort against the dark force of death." Vaclav Nelhybel's Festive Adorations uses paraphrase of three hymns, one of which is Ein feste Burg, within a collage setting. Each composer borrows Ein feste Burg because of its strong religious associations, but all use different compositional and expressive means.

Works: Warren Benson: The Leaves Are Falling (55-72); John Zdechlik: Psalm 46 (73-89); Gordon Jacob: Tribute to Canterbury (90-110); Elliot Del Borgo: Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night (111-23); James Curnow: Rejouissance (124-43); Vaclav Nelhybel: Festive Adorations (144-55).

Sources: Luther: Ein feste Burg (1, 3-4, 12-26, 49-50).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Debussy alternates characteristic French and German themes, respectively La Marseillaise and Ein feste Burg, in the middle section of his En blanc et noir. These themes had become symbols of French and German nationalism, and Debussy uses them to portray the grimness of World War I. By using fragments of Martin Luther's chorale as a symbol of German aggression, Debussy subverts Luther's intentions of congregational unity. He disguises Luther's setting through omissions in both the Stollen and the Abgesang sections. Debussy also infuses programmatic features in the work by recalling warlike elements in the music of Clément Janequin's La Guerre, although he does not use quotation in the same manner as Ein feste Burg.

Works: Debussy: En blanc et noir (31-32, 35-42).

Sources: Luther: Ein feste Burg (32-35, 39-41); Rouget de Lisle: La Marseillaise (32, 35-38, 43); Janequin: La Guerre (45-46).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Copland's "Hoe-Down," from the ballet suite Rodeo, holds an esteemed place in American symphonic literature, especially given Copland's tendency to incorporate identifiable tunes into his music. One such tune has its history in an eighteenth-century violin ballad, Bonaparte's Retreat. The title of the tune reflected American adulation of Napoleon as a war hero. A Lakeville, Kentucky fiddler, William Hamilton (Bill) Stepp, changed the tempo of the original tune from slow and stately (meant to symbolize the "retreat") to fast and romping in order to give it the effect of a rousing square dance. He enlivened the melody by adding triplet pickups and changed the function of the drone overtones from evoking bagpipes to displaying pure fiddle techniques. Alan Lomax recorded Stepp's rendition in the 1930s, and Ruth Crawford Seeger subsequently compiled it in Our Singing Country. In turn, Copland used it as part of a collage of folk tunes presented in "Hoe-Down," seeking to capture the American spirit.

Works: Copland: "Hoe-Down" from Rodeo (357-65).

Sources: Bonaparte's Retreat as performed by William Hamilton Stepp (353-57).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Ein feste Burg has had many adaptations. The tune came to symbolize the fighting march of the Protestants in the manner of a national anthem, such as La Marseillaise, in its popularity and rousing characteristics. Indeed, Ein feste Burg is associated with the beginning of the Reformation. The repetitive structure of the tune, its simplicity, and its declamation attracted several composers. Though questions arise about the exact date of the piece, as well as Luther's organization of the text, the historical significance of the piece emerges over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as several composers adapt it in cantus firmus settings. Johann Walter collaborated with Luther to create a two-voice setting of the tune. Johann Kugelmann set the tune with three voices and, like Walter, placed the cantus firmus in the tenor. Martin Agricola also kept the melody in the tenor but added a fourth voice, increasing the imitative possibilities. Other settings in the sixteenth century adapt the four-voice setting and the imitative characteristics, although Lukas Osiander, Rogier Michael, and Sethus Calvisius all place the cantus firmus in the superius. Seventeenth-century settings exhibit more ornamentation, particularly by means of chromaticism, in the treatment of the cantus firmus, evinced by composers such as Bartholomaeus Gesius, David Scheidemann, and Hans Leo Hassler, who sought to increase the expression of the tune. Subsequent adaptations, such as Meyerbeer's spiritual associations in Les Huguenots and Debussy's appropriation of the chorale to represent German aggression in En blanc et noir, resemble emblematic quotations, showing the distance the tune traveled from its original Lutheran functions.

Works: Johann Walter: Ein feste Burg (127-28); Johann Kugelmann: Ein feste Burg (128-29); Martin Agricola ou Sore: Ein feste Burg (129-30); Sigmund Hemmel: Der ganze Psalter Davids (130); Lukas Osiander: Ein feste Burg (131); Rogier Michael: Ein feste Burg (131); Sethus Calvisius: Ein feste Burg (131-32); Bartholomaeus Gesius ou Gese: Ein feste Burg (132); David Scheidemann: Ein feste Burg (132); Melchior Vulpius: Ein feste Burg (133); Hassler: Kirchengesänge, Psalmen und Geistliche Lider (133); Praetorius: Musae Sioniae (134); Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (135); Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Reformation (135); Debussy: Suite pour deux pianos: En blanc et noir (135); Langlais: Suite oecuménique (135).

Sources: Luther: Ein feste Burg (117-26).

Index Classifications: 1500s, 1600s, 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen

Giacomo Meyerbeer sought to study the chorales of J. S. Bach in addition to older secular French chansons. Even with his great success in grand opera, Meyerbeer turned to earlier works in order to complement the historical settings of his pieces by appropriating various types of music that would have been associated with the period. The plot of Les Huguenots concerns St. Bartholomew's night, the 1572 wedding occasion upon which ruling Catholics murdered thousands of Protestant Huguenots. Even though Meyerbeer was aware that the Huguenots might not have sung Luther's tune in their time, he believed the tune evoked religious associations that fit well with the historical plot of his grand opera. To Meyerbeer, the chorale became a symbol of revolution. His innovative use of the tune begins with a theme and shortened variations in the overture, and it functions as an incipit to represent Marcel, a Huguenot hero. The tune transforms to become an emblem of religious heroism and perseverance for the Huguenots by the end of the opera, even as the Catholics defeat them. This reflects a wholly new adaptation not only of Bach, but also of Luther.

Works: Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (293-301).

Sources: J. S. Bach: Ein feste Burg, BWV 720 (293, 296-301); Luther: Ein feste Burg (294, 296).

Index Classifications: 1800s

Contributed by: Katie Lundeen