Bach’s Canonical Variations on the Christmas Hymn “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her” Part 2

In the first part of this triptych about what is in many respects a unique Bach composition, the focus was on Martin Luther’s Christmas hymn that underlies it. That Bach chose this particular hymn for a canonical composition should come as no surprise. As Leonhard Hutter noted in his Compendium locorum theologicorum (Wittenberg 1610) – the textbook for theological education from which Bach was taught in his youth – in answer to the question “What do you understand by faith?”: “Nothing but the sure confidence that through and because of the merit of Christ, by grace, without any merit on our part, all our sins will be forgiven.” Hutter explains that Christ fulfilled the law for us and suffered death on the cross for us. In his hymns, Luther teaches the same: through the incarnation, Jesus is obedient to his Father’s merciful will to save mankind. Luther also discusses this ‘work of salvation’ in his treatment of the Epistle to the Galatians, which was so important to him. Through his incarnation, which Christmas celebrates, Jesus fulfills his Father’s law. This second part explores how Bach appears to have been inspired by this, how he sets Luther’s Christmas hymn to music in the canonical variations, and how their elaboration relates to Lorenz Christoph Mizler’s society.

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  Het schilderij dat Elias Gottlob Haußmann in 1746 van Johann Sebastian Bach maakte

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  Slot van Variatio 5 uit de uitgave van 1747