Christian Singers of Germany

Title Page

PREFACE.

"A PREFACE TO ALL GOOD HYMN-BOOKS."

CHAPTER I. THE EARLY DAWN OF GERMAN SACRED POETRY AND SONG. A. D. 800-900

Ambrosian Church Music

Gregorian Church Music

A Benedictine Monastery

Notker's Sequences

The Heliand

Otfried of Weissenburg

MYSTICE DE REVERSIONE MAGORUM AD PATRIAM.

CHAPTER II. A LONG TWILIGHT. A.D. 900-1100.

Early Hymns

ST. PETER.

PRAYER.

ANOTHER PRAYER (Ninth Century).

CHAPTER III. THE MORNING. A.D. 1100-1250

German Sequences

Another "Leich" or "Sequence" of his, which became extremely popular, is

Another of his poems is called

The Minne-Singers

THE BEAUTY OF THIS WORLD.

But in the list we also find the greatest of the knightly Minne-singers, Hartmann von der Aue, Reinmar von Hagenau, Gottfried von Strasburg, Wolfram von Eschenbach, and the noble singer Walther von der Vogelweide.

Another crusading song, which was very widely used on pilgrimages in these days, was sung to a melody which has been preserved to the present time, by its connexion with one of Luther's hymns; it is this:--

Another crusader and Minne-singer of those days, Sir Reinmar of Hagenau, gives us a glimpse of the struggle that must have gone on in many minds between the love of pleasure and the self-control that befitted a soldier of the Cross, a struggle of which we may still use his own words, "full many another feels it too:--"

A little anonymous poem of the same date, the last verse of which appears, from the metre, to be incomplete, surprises us by what seems to us the modern tone of its tender and passionate

Walter von der Vogelweide

So die bluomen uz dem grase dringent

MAY MIRACLES

But others treat of higher and more serious themes, and show us a man deeply engaged in the political and religious life of his day. He was a warm lover of his country, but he does not hesitate to rebuke and satirize his countrymen, whether clergy or laity, for their faults and shortcomings. In the great struggle between the Pope and the Emperor, he is heart and soul on the national side, and writes such stern reproofs and bitter epigrams on the Head of the Church, as startle us from one of its sons. But he is an earnest Christian, sometimes lamenting his own sins with simple penitence, sometimes expressing a strong and manly faith. He preaches the Crusade, and so heartily that he refuses the meed of a poet's praises to the archangels themselves, if they come not to the succour of Christendom.

THE PRAISE OF GERMANY.

A MORNING PRAYER.

EQUALITY BEFORE GOD.

REPENTANCE.

IN THE HOLY LAND.

The Minne-songs

CHAPTER IV. DARK TIMES AND BRIGHT TIMES. A.D.1253-1500

Tauler

WHAT I MUST DO.

ONLY JESUS.

The Master-Singers

DEATH WILL CONQUER.

NO MORE DESPAIR.

The Drama

CHRISTMAS CAROL

Another Christmas carol of this date is the following on

A favourite song, or we might almost call it a ballad for Easter, was this one:--

Easter Sequence

A sequence found about the same date is called in old manuscripts

We have a testimony to the use of Easter hymns in church in the following poem by Conrad von Queinfurt, belonging to the fourteenth century (he died in 1382 in Silesia), which is quite in the style of the Minne-singers both in thought and the carefully varied metre.

Many also of the popular songs were translated

Henry of Loufenburg

HOME-SICKNESS.

Another tenderly-conceived little poem of his is this:--

Henry of Loufenburg also wrote and widely introduced the use of many hymns in mixed Latin and German. Verses of this kind had long been a favourite amusement among the monks

Earliest Hymn-Books

Hymns to the Virgin

CHAPTER V. LUTHER AND HIS FRIENDS. A.D. 1500-1580.

Ulrich von Hutten

ULRICH VON HUTTEN'S SONG.

The Reformation

Martin Luther

THE STRONGHOLD

Still more popular in its own day was the second hymn that Luther ever wrote; no doubt from its containing in short compass a complete epitome

We add Luther's version of the Song of Simeon:--

Justus Jonas

PSALM CXXIV.

Paul Eber

DEATH IN THE LORD.

CHAPTER VI. HYMNS OF THE REFORMATION. A.D. 1520-1600.

Paul Speratus

Wie's Gott gefällt, gefällt's mir auch

Or take the following hymn, which surely embodies a noble conception of the duty and the aspirations of a Christian sovereign, and was composed by the prince whose name it bears.

Hans Sachs

A FAIR MELODY: TO BE SUNG BY GOOD CHRISTIANS.

As this poem makes us understand what many men must have felt when the Gospel was once more made accessible to them in their own language

Bohemian Brethren

AN ANTIPHON ON THE PRAISE OF GOD.

The next is a

The last is one of a class of hymns for which they are celebrated--morning and evening hymns.

Johann Matthesius

Nicolas Hermann

HYMN FOR THE DYING.

And of Matthesius we give this Miner's Song:

CHAPTER VII. AN INTERVAL. A.D. 1560-1616.

Bartholomew Ringwaldt

PENITENCE.

Nicholas Selnecker

EVENING-TIDE.

For his own daily prayer he wrote this:--

Louis Helmboldt

THE TRUE CHRISTIAN'S VADE-MECUM.

Weingartner

CONSOLATION.

A THANKSGIVING.

Philip Nicolai

A SPIRITUAL BRIDAL SONG OF THE BELIEVING SOUL, CONCERNING HER HEAVENLY BRIDEGROOM.

Church Music

CHAPTER VIII. THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. A.D. 1618-1650.

Martin Opitz

MORNING HYMN.

Paul Flemming

The following little poem is inscribed

SO HATH GOD LOVED THE WORLD.

Andreas Gryphius

PASSING AWAY.

SONNET.

Hymn Writers

PRAISE.

Martin Rinkart

The Königsberg Circle

Heinrich Albert

Simon Dach

HEAVEN.

Robert Roberthin

MAY-TIME IN WAR.

Johann von Rist

EASTER EVE.

As many hymns of Rist's are accessible to the English reader, we choose one that is less known, but that strongly illustrates his character.

Johann Heermann

A SONG OF TEARS.

A SONG OF COMFORT.

In 1638 Heermann's health became so much worse that he was obliged to relinquish his charge at Köben altogether

Du süsser Jesu Christ

IN BODILY PAIN.

IN TEMPTATION.

AT THE APPROACH OF DEATH.

CHAPTER IX. PAUL GERHARDT AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. A.D. 1620-1680. cPaul Gerhardt

THE HOPE OF THE CONTRITE.

THE TRUST OF THE TRIED.

THE MARRIAGE OF CHRISTIAN HEARTS.

Electress Louisa

PENITENCE.

George Neumarck

Anton Ulrich

PATIENCE AND HUMILITY.

Albinus

Johann Frank

TO THE SAVIOUR.

CHAPTER X. THE NEW SCHOOL. A.D. 1635-1700.

Friedrich von Logau

RETRIBUTION.

EPITAPH ON HIS WIFE.

Johann Valentin Andrea

FORGOTTEN LOVE.

Among the leaders of this didactic school may be mentioned a whole family of the name of Olearius, who throughout this century were clergymen and hymn-writers, and the last of whom publishcd, in 1707, one of the earliest works on German hymnology. In the next century it included Hiller and Rambach, two of the chief hymn-writers of that time, and a more famous author in Gellert, whose hymns and odes mark at once its zenith and its close.

Friedrich von Spee

A LOVE-SONG OF THE BRIDE OF CHRIST, IN EARLY SUMMERTIDE.

Johann Scheffler (Angelus Silesius)

THE HIGHEST SEEKS THE LOWEST.

A SONG AT DAY-BREAK.

Aphorisms

The Second Silesian School

AGAINST THE LUST OF THE WORLD.

WHY MY SOUL IS GLAD.

CHAPTER XI. THE PIETISTS. A.D. 1660-1750.

Philip Jacob Spener

August Herrmann Franke

Freylinghausen

JESUS IS ALL IN ALL.

QUIETNESS OF HEART.

Later Pietists

Carl Heinrich von Bogatsky

THE ALMIGHTY GOD.

Benjamin Schmolck

Wolfgang Christoph Dessler

A SONG OF THE CROSS.

Albert Bengel

Philip Frederick Hiller

THE GROUND OF ALL THINGS.

HE MAKETH ALL OUR BED IN OUR SICKNESS.

Joachim Neander

SONG OF SUMMER.

CHAPTER XII. THE MYSTICS AND SEPARATISTS. A.D. 1690-1760.

Gottfried Arnold

THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

LIFE'S VOYAGE

TRUTH.

Gerhard Tersteegen

Jesu, mein Erbarmer, höre

THE MOTE IN THE SUNBEAM.

WITHIN AND WITHOUT.

Hinein, hinein

AT EVENING.

THE CROSS.

Nein, das Kreuz hat keine Last

THE TIRED CHILD.

The Moravians

FOLLOWING CHRIST.

THE KING'S FAVOURITES.

Albertini

THE VIRGIN'S LAMP.

CHAPTER XIII. MODERN TIMES. 1750-1850.

Roman Catholic Hymns

Christian Fürchtegott Gellert

THE SOLACE OF THE LIFE TO COME.

Cramer

THE DUTY OF THE SCHOLAR.

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock

THE VISION OF GOD.

PSALM.

The following hymn is very commonly used at funerals or at Easter services:--

Modern Hymns

Friedrich Rückert

MIDNIGHT.

BETHLEHEM AND CALVARY.

THE END.

**Indexes**

Subject Index

Links
Bible LibraryInterlinear BibleBible CommentariesBible ConcordanceTopical BibleBible SummaryBible OutlineBible TimelineChildren's BibleBible Hub Homepage
Title Page
Top of Page
Top of Page