Erhalt uns Herr [beÿ deinem Wort] &c. D. B.
  Walther Mss. G and F

(Johann Gottfried Walther, ca 1725 and 1730)

This short chorale setting by Buxtehude is known from two versions copied by J.G. Walther, both of which are in G minor. Michael Belotti, the editor of the Broude Buxtehude edition, postulates that the piece was written in E minor and transposed by the copyist, who is known and suspected to have adapted and ‘updated’ the music he collected, and the edition goes so far as to print an E-minor version (somewhat hidden in an appendix). The low E flat called for twice in the pedal certainly does present a question, since this note was not normally available in Buxtehude’s place and time due to the prevalence of the short octave – but I think it possible to play an E natural in b. 11 (which would create the double dominant whose absence Belotti notes) and perhaps in b. 8 as well. However, Belotti’s qualms about the high tessitura of the chorale must equally apply to organ settings by, e.g., Böhm (once attributed to Pachelbel), Peter Gerritz, and the anonymous composer in LyB7, at least in the versions which come to us, which are all in G minor as befits the tune’s notation at that pitch in, e.g., Melodeyen Gesangbuch and Praxis Pietatis Melica.* (Perhaps this high transposition was made with the children named in the song’s inscription in mind.) Furthermore, whereas the Buxtehude work in G minor calls for only one A flat, and that a momentary escape tone, the E-minor version calls for a number of D sharps, which are not normally found on keyboard instruments tuned in strict quarter-comma meantone temperament (though we cannot be sure that such a strict temperament was anything like universal). An E-minor transposition is certainly useful for the modern church musician, since the tune is often notated on E in today’s hymnals, but I think is not so likely to reflect Buxtehude’s original version.

All the recordings in my library treat Buxtehude’s setting quietly and rather meditatively (possibly the registrations were chosen imagining children would be singing the chorale); one is considerably slower, and another is a bewildering twice as slow, as the present interpretation. I find, however, that attention to the chorale invites a moderate tempo with emphasis on the half-note pace thereof, and consideration of the text suggests a sturdy approach to registration.

Ein Kinderlied / zu singen / wider die zween Ertzfeinde Christi vnd seiner heiligen Kirchen / den Bapst vnd Türcken / etc.

Erhalt vns HErr bey deinem Wort

Vnd steur des Bapsts vnd Türcken Mord

Die Jhesum Christum deinen Son

Wolten stürzen von deinem Thron

Beweis dein Macht / HERR Jhesu Christ

Der du HErr aller HErren bist.

Beschirm dein arme Christenheit

Das sie dich lob in ewigkeit.

Gott heilger Geist du Tröster werd

Gib deim Volck einrley sinn auff Erd.

Steh bey vns in der letzen Not

Gleit vns ins Leben aus dem Tod.

A children’s song [!] to sing against the two archenemies of Christ and his Holy Church, the Pope and the Turks, etc.

Keep us, Lord, [steadfast] in your word,
 and stem the murder[ous rage] of the Pope and the Turks,
 who would want to cast down Jesus Christ, your son,
 From his throne.

Show your might, Lord Jesus Christ,
 you who are the Lord of lords;
 protect your poor Christian people,
 so that they may praise you for ever.

God, the Holy Spirit, you precious comforter,
 Give to your people unity of purpose on earth,
 Stand by us in our last agony!
 Lead us out of death into life!

*  In its first known appearance (1544 Klug), the tune is notated on D (with B flat); in later c16 collections it appears on A, befitting its Aeolian mode; while in the c17 it begins to be notated on G (with F sharp).
program notes
