Nun danket alle Gott

BWV 386 performed by the Netherlands Bach Society
Sint-Gertrudiskerk, Bergen op Zoom

Nun danket alle Gott
Der ewig reiche Gott
Lob, Ehr und Preis sei Gott,

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Behind the music

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Praise via Luther

A hymn filled with hope for turbulent times

At a politically crucial meeting on 25 June 1530, Emperor Charles V heard the Augsburg Confession – the confession of faith of the Reformation – against his will. On paper, this meeting was supposed to inform him of the various faiths in his empire, but the court did everything it could to keep the Reformation as small as possible. However, it did not reckon with the Protestant towns and states, who delegated the Saxon lawyer Christian Beyer to read out the Confession. He did so with such clarity and power that the text could also be heard loud and clear outside the far too small chapel. And this text, containing indictments of Catholic excesses penned by Martin Luther, Justus Jonas and particularly Philipp Melanchthon, was to help lay the foundations for the Lutheran movement within the Reformation.

Precisely one year later, the Augsburg Confession was widely commemorated. Once such commemoration was held in the small town of Eilenburg, where amid the violence of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) the clergyman Martin Rinckart wrote a hopeful hymn text that was to become very well-known: ‘Nun danket alle Gott’(later published in his Jesu-Hertz-Büchlein, 1636). In the three verses, Rinckart adjusts Luther’s biblical translation to form a hymn of praise: to God’s grace, to his promise to save mankind and to God himself. Since 1647, Rinckart’s lyrics have been associated with the melody by Johann Crüger.

In Leipzig, ‘Nun danket alle Gott’ was often sung at weddings and on feast days, but also after the Passion on Good Friday, as the death of Jesus was regarded as the sign of God’s salvation. Bach used the melody in at least two cantatas for Reformation Day on 31 October (BWV 79 and 192), as well as in the collection of 18 organ works known as the Leipziger Choräle.

BWV: 386
Title: Nun danket alle Gott
Genre: chorales
Lyricist: Martin Rinckart (1636)
Special notes: Melody: Johann Crüger (1647)

Extra videos

Vocal texts

Original

Nun danket alle Gott
mit Herzen, Mund und Händen,
der große Dinge tut
an uns und allen Enden,
der uns von Mutterleib
und Kindesbeinen an
unzählig viel zugut
und noch jetzund getan.

Der ewig reiche Gott
woll uns bei unserm Leben
ein immer fröhlich Herz
und edlen Frieden geben
und uns in seiner Gnad
erhalten fort und fort
und uns aus aller Not
erlösen hier und dort.

Lob, Ehr und Preis sei Gott,
dem Vater und dem Sohne
und dem, der beiden gleich
im höchsten Himmelsthrone,
dem einig höchsten Gott,
als er anfänglich war
und ist und bleiben wird
jetzt und immer dar.

Translation

Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who from our mother's arms
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessed peace to cheer us,
And keep us in His grace,
And guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ills
In this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given,
The Son and Him who reigns
With them in highest Heaven,
The one eternal God,
Whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.

vertaling © Catherine Winkworth (1858)

Credits

Release date

8 januari 2026
Recording date

6 May 2024
Location

Sint-Gertrudiskerk, Bergen op Zoom
Soprano

Amelia Berridge
Alto

Tim Braithwaite
Tenor

Adriaan De Koster
Bass

Donald Bentvelsen
Theorbo

David Mackor
Director and editor

Onno van Ameijde
Music recording

Guido Tichelman, Pim van der Lee
Music edit and mix

Guido Tichelman
Camera

Jesper Blok, Jorne Tielemans
Focus pull

Glenn van Neerden
Lights

Jorne Tielemans, Patrick Galvin
Project manager nep

Ron Vermeulen
Assistant music recording

Marloes Biermans
Producer

Lisanne Marlou de Kok, Stephan Esmeijer

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