Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen

A novelty in the history of the open-air festival “WOODSTOCK der Blasmusik” took place on 30 June 2019 in the Upper Austrian community Ort in the Inn district. During a service on the festival grounds, “Von guten Mächten” (“By good powers”) was played in a version that was arranged for wind orchestra. The performance was an experience that deeply touched visitors and active musicians alike. It was the highlight of a special, peaceful large-scale musical event.

“Von guten Mächten treu und still umgeben” (“Faithfully and peacefully surrounded by good powers”) is a spiritual poem by the Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a representative of the Confessing Church which was part of the resistance against the Nazi regime.

Bonhoeffer, who had been imprisoned in various prisons since April 1943, started writing poems in 1944. He tried to keep in touch with his family by writing letters, that were only sporadically delivered and mostly censored. On 19 December 1944, he wrote a letter to his fiancée Maria von Wedemeyer and added a few lines to it - lines that were later set to music by hundreds of composers. The poem referred to his personal situation, a depressing and hopeless situation, as he had to expect his execution at any time.

Although Bonhoeffer was confronted with his certain death, the poem testifies to a deeply religious man whose life was marked by great hope and confidence in God. He preached of love and peace in a world ravaged by hatred and terror. Thus, he wrote in this letter: “I have not felt alone or abandoned for a moment. You, my parents, all of you, the friends and students in the field, you are always completely present to me. Your prayers and good thoughts, bible words, long gone conversations, pieces of music, books come to life and reality like never before. It is a great invisible realm in which I live and which I have no doubt is real.

The old hymn of the angels says: ‘two to cover me, two to wake me up’, this protection in the evening and in the morning by good invisible powers is something that we adults today need no less than the children.” The singer-songwriter Siegfried Fietz set the text to music anew in 1977 and created one of the most beautiful and well-known sacred songs of our time.