Dr. Cameron Lee Wentz
In Dir ist Freude, or In Thee is Gladness as we sing it from the ELW, is (I hope!) a familiar hymn to Lutheran congregations with text and music dating to the late Renaissance period. Its simple but joyous and dance-like quality has inspired composers throughout history to arrange a wide variety of chorale-preludes. The most famous is a setting by J.S. Bach (surprise!) which takes the opening measure of the original tune and puts it in fugue-like entrances while the pedal introduces a counter motive that undergirds the entire piece. In complete contrast, another German composer, Johannes Matthias Michel also incorporates the opening of the original tune overtop an ever-fluctuating dance rhythm and deliciously dissonant harmony (the dedicatee is Leonard Bernstein).
Because two of my favorite settings are by German composers, I was a bit surprised to learn that the tune itself was written by an Italian Composer, Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi. Bach himself, though, took many of Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi’s concertos and arranged them for solo organ, so this borrowing and mixing practice was not uncommon. Gastoldi’s secular tune was then paired with the sacred text attributed to Johann Lindemann (translated to English by Catherine Winkworth in the 19th century), and we still sing it to this day.
During the Season of Epiphany, each Sunday’s postlude will be a different setting of In Thee is Gladness. Some are familiar to me, like the Bach and Mathias Michel which will bookend the season, but others I’m learning for the first time. I hope you’ll enjoy the journey with me as we begin to know each other as cantor and congregation, and carry the joy of Christmas into the new year.
