"Es ist das Heil uns kommen her" | |
---|---|
Lutheran hymn | |
English | Salvation now has come for all |
Catalogue | Zahn 4430 |
Text | by Paul Speratus |
Language | German |
Published | 1524 |
"Es ist das Heil uns kommen her" (originally: "Es ist das heyl vns kommen her", English: "Salvation now has come for all" or more literally: It is our salvation come here to us) is a Lutheran hymn in 14 stanzas by Paul Speratus. It was first published as one of eight songs in 1524 in the first Lutheran hymnal, the Achtliederbuch, [1] which contained four songs by Luther, three by Speratus, and one by Justus Jonas. [2] The same year it appeared in Erfurt in Eyn Enchiridion . [3] Its hymn tune, Zahn No. 4430, was already known in the 15th century. [4]
According to tradition, Speratus wrote this hymn while he was in prison in Olomouc, condemned for his evangelical beliefs to death by fire. Only by the intercession of friends was he released, on condition that he leave Moravia. [5]
The text by Speratus is based on Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Romans3:28. [6] [7] and expresses Luther's teaching about salvation. According to Scott Hendrix, "It not only emphasizes justification by faith alone but it also underlines the vitality of that faith manifested in service to others. [8] A modern English version of the hymn's first stanza, which appears on the back cover of Hendrix's book Early Protestant Spirituality, is as follows:
Speratus set his words to the tune of an Easter chorale from the 15th century, "Freu dich, du werte Christenheit". [9]
The story of Luther's being moved to tears when he first heard this hymn, from a beggar outside his window in Wittenberg, has been retold by many authors. [10] [11] [12]
The 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, lists "Salvation now has come for all" as one of the Lutheran hymns "which at the time produced the greatest effect, and are still best remembered." [13] It has been translated into English by many authors, including Miles Coverdale ("Now is our health come from above," 1539), Henry Mills ("Our whole salvation doth depend On God's free grace and Spirit," 1845), and Catherine Winkworth ("Salvation hath come down to us," 1869). [7]
The hymn, focused on essential Lutheran teaching, was frequently set for organ and for voices.
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck composed Prelude and Chorale Variations (two variations). Samuel Scheidt composed four parts as No. 46 of Das Görlitzer Tabulaturbuch (1650). Matthias Weckmann wrote Chorale Variations. Dieterich Buxtehude composed a chorale prelude, BuxWV 186, in C major. Chorale Preludes were further composed by Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow and Johann Gottfried Walther (LV 84). [9]
Between 1708 and 1714, while Johann Sebastian Bach was court organist at the ducal court in Weimar, he compiled chorale preludes for the liturgical year in his Orgelbüchlein and included it as a catechism hymn, BWV 638. [14] Georg Friedrich Kauffmann published a Chorale Prelude in Leipzig in 1733. Johann Ludwig Krebs also wrote a Chorale Prelude. Max Reger composed a chorale prelude as No. 10 of his 52 Chorale Preludes, Op. 67 in 1902, another in 1914 in his Op. 135a. [9]
Arnold von Bruck composed a setting for four voices, published in 1544. Hans Leo Hassler wrote a four-part setting, Johann Hermann Schein set it twice with basso continuo, once for two sopranos (1618), once for four parts (1627). Georg Philipp Telemann composed in 1719 a sacred cantata on a text by Erdmann Neumeister Es ist das Heil uns kommen her. [9]
Bach used the stanzas 11 and 12 in several of his cantatas in 1716, 1723 and 1724. Between 1732 and 1735, he used twelve stanzas as the base for his chorale cantata of the same name, BWV 9. Johannes Brahms composed it in 1860 as one of two motets for a five-part mixed chorus a cappella, Op. 29, a four-part chorale followed by an "elaborate fugal variation on the chorale melody". [9]
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Es ist das Heil uns kommen her, BWV 9 in Leipzig for the sixth Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 1 August 1734. It is a chorale cantata, based on the hymn "Es ist das Heil uns kommen her" by Paul Speratus. Bach composed the cantata to fill a gap in his chorale cantata cycle written for performances in Leipzig from 1724.
"Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein" is a Lutheran chorale of 1524, with words written by Martin Luther paraphrasing Psalm 12. It was published as one of eight songs in 1524 in the first Lutheran hymnal, the Achtliederbuch, which contained four songs by Luther, three by Speratus, and one by Justus Jonas. It was contained in 1524 in the Erfurt Enchiridion. It is part of many hymnals, also in translations. The text inspired vocal and organ music by composers such as Heinrich Schütz, who set it as part of his Becker Psalter, and Johann Sebastian Bach, who based a chorale cantata on it. Mozart used one of its tunes in his opera The Magic Flute.
"Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir", originally "Aus tieffer not schrey ich zu dir", later also "Aus tiefer Noth schrei' ich zu dir", is a Lutheran hymn of 1524, with words written by Martin Luther as a paraphrase of Psalm 130. It was first published in 1524 as one of eight songs in the first Lutheran hymnal, the Achtliederbuch, which contained four songs by Luther, three by Paul Speratus, and one by Justus Jonas, and also appeared the same year in the Erfurt Enchiridion. It is part of many hymnals, also in translations. The text inspired vocal and organ music from the Renaissance to contemporary, including composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, who based a chorale cantata on it, Felix Mendelssohn and Max Reger.
"Christ lag in Todesbanden" is an Easter hymn by Martin Luther. Its melody is by Luther and Johann Walter. Both the text and the melody were based on earlier examples. It was published in 1524 in the Erfurt Enchiridion and in Walter's choral hymnal Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn. Various composers, including Pachelbel, Bach and Telemann, have used the hymn in their compositions.
Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch, BWV 86, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for Rogate, the fifth Sunday after Easter, and first performed it on 14 May 1724.
Paul Speratus was a Swabian Catholic priest who became a Protestant preacher, reformer and hymn-writer. In 1523, he helped Martin Luther to create the First Lutheran hymnal, published in 1524 and called Achtliederbuch.
The First Lutheran hymnal, published in 1524 as Etlich Cristlich lider / Lobgesang und Psalm, often also often referred to as the Achtliederbuch, was the first Lutheran hymnal.
"Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist" is a German Christian hymn. The first stanza is a leise from the 13th century which alludes to the Latin sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus for Pentecost. It was widely known, and aside from its Pentecostal origin was also used as a procession song and in sacred plays.
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the cantata Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125, for use in a Lutheran service. He composed this chorale cantata in Leipzig in 1725 for the feast for the Purification of Mary, which is celebrated on 2 February and is also known as Candlemas. The cantata is based on Martin Luther's 1524 hymn "Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin" and forms part of Bach's chorale cantata cycle, written to provide Sundays and feast days of the liturgical year with cantatas based on a related Lutheran hymn.
There are 52 chorale cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach surviving in at least one complete version. Around 40 of these were composed during his second year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, which started after Trinity Sunday 4 June 1724, and form the backbone of his chorale cantata cycle. The eldest known cantata by Bach, an early version of Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, presumably written in 1707, was a chorale cantata. The last chorale cantata he wrote in his second year in Leipzig was Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1, first performed on Palm Sunday, 25 March 1725. In the ten years after that he wrote at least a dozen further chorale cantatas and other cantatas that were added to his chorale cantata cycle.
Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält, BWV 178 is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the eighth Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 30 July 1724. It is a chorale cantata from his second annual cycle, based on the hymn "Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält" (1524) by Justus Jonas, a paraphrase of Psalm 124.
"Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält" is a Lutheran hymn by Justus Jonas, a paraphrase of Psalm 124 in eight stanzas. It was first published in 1524 in the Erfurt Enchiridion. The theme of the psalm is the need of help against raging enemies. It has been translated also as "Where the Lord God does not stand (stay) with us", "If God the Lord is not with us", "If God the Lord is not on our side", among others.
"Vater unser im Himmelreich" is a Lutheran hymn in German by Martin Luther. He wrote the paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer in 1538, corresponding to his explanation of the prayer in his Kleiner Katechismus. He dedicated one stanza to each of the seven petitions and framed it with an opening and a closing stanza, each stanza in six lines. Luther revised the text several times, as extant manuscript show, concerned to clarify and improve it. He chose and possibly adapted an older anonymous melody, which was possibly associated with secular text, after he had first selected a different one. Other hymn versions of the Lord's Prayer from the 16th and 20th-century have adopted the same tune, known as "Vater unser" and "Old 112th".
"Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin" is a hymn by Martin Luther, a paraphrase in German of the Nunc dimittis, the canticle of Simeon. Luther wrote the text and melody, Zahn No. 3986, in 1524 and it was first published in the same year. Originally a song for Purification, it has been used for funerals. Luther included it in 1542 in Christliche Geseng ... zum Begrebniss.
Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn, was the first German hymnal harmonised for choir, published in Wittenberg in 1524 by Johann Walter who collaborated with Martin Luther. It contains 32 sacred songs, including 24 by Luther, in settings by Walter for three to five parts with the melody in the tenor. Luther wrote a preface for the part books. The collection has been called the root of all Protestant song music.
Martin Luther was a great enthusiast for music, and this is why it forms a large part of Lutheran services; in particular, Luther admired the composers Josquin des Prez and Ludwig Senfl and wanted singing in the church to move away from the ars perfecta and towards singing as a Gemeinschaft (community). Lutheran hymns are sometimes known as chorales. Lutheran hymnody is well known for its doctrinal, didactic, and musical richness. Most Lutheran churches are active musically with choirs, handbell choirs, children's choirs, and occasionally change ringing groups that ring bells in a bell tower. Johann Sebastian Bach, a devout Lutheran, composed music for the Lutheran church: more than half of his over 1000 compositions are or contain Lutheran hymns.
Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale cantata cycle is the year-cycle of church cantatas he started composing in Leipzig from the first Sunday after Trinity in 1724. It followed the cantata cycle he had composed from his appointment as Thomaskantor after Trinity in 1723.
"Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" is a Lutheran hymn written by the pietist German poet and schoolmaster Samuel Rodigast in 1675. The melody has been attributed to the cantor Severus Gastorius. An earlier hymn with the same title was written in the first half of the seventeenth century by the theologian Michael Altenburg.
"Es woll uns Gott genädig sein" is a Lutheran hymn, with words written by Martin Luther based on the Psalm 67. The hymn in three stanzas of nine lines each was first published in Wittenberg in 1524. Its best known hymn tune, Zahn No. 7247, was published in Strasbourg in 1524. Heinrich Schütz and Johann Sebastian Bach wrote settings of the hymn. It was translated to English and has appeared in dozens of hymnals.
"Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl" is a Lutheran hymn of 1524, with words written by Martin Luther in 1523, paraphrasing Psalm 14. It was published as one of eight songs in 1524 in the first Lutheran hymnal, the Achtliederbuch. It was also published later that year in the Erfurt Enchiridion. It has appeared in many hymnals, both in German and in translation. The text inspired vocal and organ music by composers such as Johann Pachelbel.
...only through the intercession of respected aristocrats was he rescued from death by fire, to which he had been condemned ... in this prison he composed the Protestant hymn "There is salvation come forth to us."nur durch die Fürbitte angesehener Magnaten vor dem Feuertode, zu dem er verurtheilt war, gerettet...er in dieser Haft das evangelische Glaubenslied "Es ist das Heil uns kommen her“ gedichtet hat
The Reformer, who had never till then heard that Christian hymn, listened with delight and astonishment; and what further angmented these feelings, was the foreign accent of the person who sang. "Again! again!" he exclaimed when the beggar had finished. He then asked him where the hymn could have come from; the tears rushed from his eyes when the poor man told him that it was from the shores of the Baltic that a shout of deliverance was resounding as far as Wittenberg; and then, clasping his hands, he thanked God with a joyful heart.
It is related of him by Seckendorf, the historian of the Reformation, that, as he was one day sitting in his study at Wittenberg; he was affected to tears by hearing a beggar singing in the streets the hymn of Paul Speratus, 'Es ist das Heil uns kommen her...", and that he at once felt how powerful an instrument he had in such compositions set to good music for the propagation of his startling doctrines.
...sounds to us like a bit out of the Augsburg Confession done into rhyme. But in his own day it was as popular as Luther's hymns, and Luther himself is said to have given his last coin to a Prussian beggar from whom he heard it for the first time.
5. German Hymnody....