• Startseite
• Literatur
• Noten
• Noten 4-stimmig
• Aus tiefer Not: 4 settings (1544)

Aus tiefer Not: 4 settings (1544)

for 4 voices or instruments.

Martin Luther´s translation of Psalm 130, De Profundis, first appeared in 1524. The distinctive melody, which has been linked to Paul Hofhaimer´s Mein trauens ist, became one of that handful of specially inspiring chorale melodies, the subject of numerous arrangements, including several by Michael Praetorius.
The first three settings here come from Georg Rhaw´s Newe Deudsche Geistlichen Gesenge ffir die gemeinen Schulen, an important anthology of Lutheran chorale settings in (mostly) four parts, published in Wittenberg in 1544. Matthieu Le Maistre´s version comes from his Geistliche und Weltliche Teutsche Geseng, mit vier und fünff Stimmen, published in 1566, also in Wittenberg.
Luther´s text has four verses. We could not therefore resist the temptation to underlay one verse for each of the four settings here, though in the original sources it is the first verse that is underlaid in each case. The original note values have been halved throughout. Editorial accidentals are shown in the usual way, applying to the one note only.
The special melodic qualities of the finest Lutheran chorales have often inspired good counterpoint, which works both in vocal and instrumental performances. In the 1544 settings the main melody is the tenor part; in the final setting the cantus has the melody. The pieces can, of course, be done with a single voice and instruments.