Scheidemann: Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt

Durch Adams | Fall ist gantz | verderbt.

  Vienna Minoritenkonvent MS XIV.714
(South Germany, ca 1624–31)

‘Durch Adams Fall’ is one of a few verset sets attributed to Scheidemann for which there are considerably fewer versets surviving than there are stanzas of the associated text. In this case, we have two versets attributed to Scheidemann, while Lazarus Spengler’s song (set to an existing tune, ‘Was wöll wir aber heben an’) consists of 9 stanzas.

Such long texts were not always sung in their entirety; we know, for example, that the last two stanzas of ‘Es ist das Heil uns kommen her’, which form a paraphrase of the Our Father, were sung and sometimes printed as a separate unit. I have not found reference to a similar practice for the present text, but it is notable that there is a marked turn in stanza 7 from an objective treatment of the Fall and Original Sin, to a message of hope and then an address to God, all cast in the first person singular. The fact that two of Bach’s cantatas feature single stanzas (7 and 8) of ‘Durch Adams Fall’ may be a shred of evidence for the separate treatment of the end of this song.

In any case, I have chosen to assign the two versets attributed to Scheidemann (on account of their controlled and yet highly expressive four-voice writing, a craft at which he excelled) to stanzas 7 and 9, with a motet setting by Lupus Hellinck for stanza 8. The first organ verse features the melody in the bass, played here in the pedal although it is also possible to play this piece with the hands alone. The second, with the melody in the treble, is here played manualiter, although the bass could be played in the pedal. It would not have been possible for Scheidemann to play this treble melody in the pedal (as suggested in Fock’s edition), as the last phrase of the melody exceeds the range of the pedalboards typical of his time and place (note that in the first verset, the composer has transposed this last phrase down an octave). Hellinck’s motet – which does not use a cantus firmus, but rather builds all four voices on phrases and motives taken from the melody – is played in this case on two manuals and pedal so as to clarify the polyphony, even if there is little if any direct witness for playing this kind of piece in this way (Titelouze’s suggestion for playing his own four-voice pieces with such a disposition may or may not be relevant).


The text:

Wer hofft in Gott und dem vertraut, Wird nimmermehr zu Schanden; Denn wer auf diesen Felsen baut, Ob ihm gleich geht zuhanden Wie Unfalls hie, hab ich doch nie Den Menschen sehen fallen, Der sich verläßt auf Gottes Trost, Er hilft sein Gläub’gen allen.	Who hopes in God and trusts in him will never be put to shame. For whoever builds on this rock, even if something occurs here [that seems] like misfortune, I have never seen anyone fall who relies on God’s comfort, he helps all those who believe.
Ich bitt o Herr, aus Herzensgrund, Du wollst nicht von mir nehmen Dein heilges Wort aus meinem Mund, So wird mich nicht beschämen Mein Sünd und Schuld, denn in dein Huld, Setz ich all mein Vertrauen; Wer sich nur fest darauf verläßt, Der wird den Tod nicht schauen.	I pray, o Lord, from the depths of my that you may not take from me    [heart your holy word from out of my mouth; so will I not be put to shame by my sin and guilt, since in your grace I place all my trust. Whoever relies firmly on this alone will never look on death.
Mein Füßen ist dein heilges Wort Ein brennende Luzerne, Ein Licht, das mir den Weg weist fort; So dieser Morgensterne In uns aufgeht, so bald versteht Der Mensch die hohen Gaben, Die Gottes Geist den g‘wiß verheißt, Die Hoffnung darein haben.	For my feet your holy word is a blazing lantern, a light that shows me the way forward; as this morning Star rises upon us we understand the great gifts that God’s spirit has indeed promised, and in these we have our hope.