{"id":236,"date":"2008-11-21T10:25:32","date_gmt":"2008-11-21T10:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meeseeks:5080\/blog\/?p=236"},"modified":"2025-01-15T11:21:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T11:21:36","slug":"poem-ach-wie-fluchtig-ach-wie-nichtig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/poem-ach-wie-fluchtig-ach-wie-nichtig\/","title":{"rendered":"Poem: Ach wie fl\u00fcchtig, ach wie nichtig"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/blockquote>\n

As we head towards winter, today’s poem is a German hymn by Michael Franck<\/a> (1609-1667) about the fleeting nature of human life and human affairs.   The hymn first appeared in print in 1650, after the Thirty Years Religious War (1618-1648) had devastated German society. The hymn was famously set by JS Bach as Choral Cantata BWV 26, for the 24th<\/sup> Sunday after Trinity, which is this Sunday (23 November 2008). The Cantata was first performed on 19 November 1724 in Leipzig, and the music for this cantata is among Bach’s most thrilling.<\/p>\n

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Alex Ross, writing in The New Yorker <\/a>(11 April 2011), says this of John Eliot Gardiner’s interpretation of this cantata with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists:    “In \u201cAch wie fl\u00fcchtig, ach wie nichtig\u201d (\u201cOh how fleeting, oh how trifling\u201d) the orchestra even conveys the self-important bustle of an urban crowd.” <\/em>This is not what I hear at all in the music. Instead, I hear this music as portraying the roaring water of the verse and personal inner torment. But then, I’ve rarely shared Ross’s strange musical tastes.<\/p>\n

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The picture that was once above was “Das Eismeer<\/em><\/strong> ” (The Sea of Ice) by Caspar David Friedrich, painted in 1823-4.  The text is a translation of that set by Bach, based on a translation into English by Francis Browne (see:  www.bach-cantatas.com<\/a>).  (Browne has also completed a literal translation of all of Franck\u2019s poem, here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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1. <\/em>Chorus<\/p>\n

Ah, how fleeting, ah, how trifling
\nIs the life of man!
\nAs a mist soon arises
\nAnd soon vanishes again,
\nSo is our life, see!<\/p>\n

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2. Aria (T)
\nAs swiftly as roaring water rushes by,
\nSo hurry by the days of our life.
\nTime passes, the hours hurry by,
\nJust as the raindrops suddenly divide themselves,
\nWhen all rushes into the abyss.<\/p>\n

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3. Recitative (A)
\nJoy turns to sorrow,
\nBeauty falls like a flower,
\nThe greatest strength is weakened,
\nGood fortune changes in time,
\nSoon honour and glory are over,
\nKnowledge and men’s creations
\nAre in the end brought to nothing by the grave.<\/p>\n

<\/blockquote>\n

4. Aria (B)
\nTo hang one’s heart on earthly treasures
\nIs a seduction of the foolish world.
\nHow easily arise devouring embers,
\nHow the surging floods roar and tear away
\nUntil everything is shattered and falls apart in ruins.<\/p>\n

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5. Recitative (S)
\nThe highest majesty and spendour
\nAre shrouded at last by the night of death.
\nThe person who sat on a throne like a god,
\nIn no way escapes the dust and ashes,
\nAnd when the last hour strikes,
\nSo that he is carried to the earth,
\nAnd the foundation of his highness is shattered,
\nHe is completely forgotten.<\/p>\n

<\/blockquote>\n

6. Chorale [Verse 13]
\nAh, how fleeting, ah, how trifling
\nAre mankind’s affairs!
\nAll, all that we see,
\nMust fall and vanish.
\nThe person who fears God stands firm forever.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/blockquote>\n

Acknowledgment:<\/strong> Francis Browne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we head towards winter, today’s poem is a German hymn by Michael Franck (1609-1667) about the fleeting nature of human life and human affairs.   The hymn first appeared in print in 1650, after the Thirty Years Religious War (1618-1648) had devastated German society. The hymn was famously set by JS Bach as Choral Cantata […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,63,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-poetry","category-religion","p1","y2008","m11","d21","h10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13613,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/13613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vukutu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}