Johann Rosenmüller: Aude quid times gens Christo dicata --- Jesse Blumberg and ACRONYM

First recording

Jesse Blumberg, baritone
with ACRONYM

Johanna Novom, Adriane Post; violins
Edwin Huizinga, Karina Schmitz; violas
Loren Ludwig; viola da gamba
Doug Balliett; violone
Kivie Cahn-Lipman; lirone
Simon Martyn-Ellis; theorbo
Elliot Figg; harpsichord and organ

Text: anonymous

Be eager, you people dedicated to Christ, who fear.
Who will separate you from the love of Jesus?
Tribulation? No, no. Hunger? No, no. The sword? No, no.
Not wild faces like people of the underworld,
No, not an uproar of an insane, raging power.

Be eager to fight the battle.
You see by the strength of God,
Just as when you fight more safely in small arms, faith protects you.
Be eager to fight the battle, people dedicated to Christ.

You who are faithful to God, who is for you in the world?
Trivial is his glory.
Suddenly he flies, suddenly he flees, suddenly he dies.
He attacks, oppose him. He commands, resist him.
Look to the hills, call upon Jesus and you will conquer.

Go away, go from me
Charms of luxuriating, the difficulty of chastity, luxury
Nuisances as heavy as an injury.

Go away, go from me.
O impure world, it is pleasing to go far from you.
Goodbye earth, this mortal will return from you,
For the soul desires to serve God,
O impure world, far from you.

Be eager, you people dedicated to Christ, who fear.
Be eager to fight the battle, you who are faithful to God.
You who are a faithful soul, who is for you in the world?
He quickly flies, he quickly flees, he quickly dies.
Look to the hills, people dedicated to Christ, calling on Jesus.

You who are faithful to God will triumph.


Excerpt from the CD liner notes:

The text of Aude quid times gens Christo dicata contains many parallels with Psalm 121. The Lord is the Psalmist’s keeper at all hours of the day, protecting him from all evil, much as the author of Aude quid times describes Christ’s power and strength as protector of His people. The Psalmist lifts his eyes to the hills, declaring that his help comes from the Lord, and so too the speaker of this cantata directs his audience to “look to the hills.” Just as in Psalm 121, the perspective of the narrator changes, in this case shifting from imperative instructions for “you” believers to a third-person description of the strength of God. The third and sixth stanzas describe a worldly person who could be mistaken for the savior, yet he is trivial and mortal, whereas Christ triumphs. Although the cantata’s focus on Christ and similarity to Psalm 121 reflect a Lutheran reading of the Psalms as expressions of faithful believers, its speaker wishes to leave the earth and serve God in a manner echoing the Catholic desire for mystical unity.

Notes and translation by Martha H. Brundage