''Cantate!'' (Sing!) is a German

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Chri ...

first published in 1847, and continued in seven editions until 1879. It was a collection of 444 old and new songs, edited by the educator and hymnwriter

Heinrich Bone Heinrich Bone (25 September 181310 June 1893) was a German educator and hymnwriter. He wrote a reader for German studies which was used for higher education in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria, until it was banned during the Kulturkampf. ...

, and the first Catholic hymnal in German that was used in multiple dioceses. Several of the songs are still part of the common Catholic hymnal in German, ''

Gotteslob ''Gotteslob'' ("Praise of God") is the title of the hymnbook authorized by the Catholic dioceses in Germany, Austria, South Tyrol, Luxembourg and Liège, Belgium. First published in Advent 2013, it is the current official hymnal for German-speaki ...

''.

History

Heinrich Bone published the hymnal ''Cantate!'' (''Sing!''), a collection of 444 songs, which appeared between 1847 and 1879 in seven editions. It was the first Catholic hymnal which was used in multiple German-speaking dioceses. A book with melodies for the songs appeared in 1852.

Program

The hymnal has a programmatic title in Latin, referring to the traditional language in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. It is subtitled "Katholisches Gesangbuch nebst Gebeten und Andachten für alle Zeiten und Feste des Kirchenjahres" (Catholic songbook including prayers and contemplations for all times and feasts of the church year). Bone published traditional Latin hymns as the basis for singing in church, and also translated medieval and Baroque texts to a contemporary language, such as "

Komm, Schöpfer Geist, kehr bei uns ein "" (Come, Creator Spirit, visit us) is a Christian hymn in German for Pentecost. The text is a paraphrase of the Latin hymn by Heinrich Bone. The melody is an adaptation of the Latin hymn's plainchant. It was first published in 1845. In the Cathol ...

" as a paraphrase of the 9th-century

Veni Creator Spiritus "Veni Creator Spiritus" (Come, Creator Spirit) is a traditional Christian hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus, a ninth-century German monk, teacher, and archbishop. When the original Latin text is used, it is normally sung in Greg ...

, to make the return of traditional hymns to Catholic services possible. It also contained new hymns. For the second, expanded edition of 1851, Bone wrote a foreword of several pages explaining his program, dated Christmas 1850. It is followed by an alphabetic index of the songs, first the songs in German, then those in Latin. A list of prayers and contemplations is followed by a list of the feasts, naming a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

for each day of the year. The songs begin with Latin hymns, listed with parallel German versions. The section with songs in German follows the liturgical year, beginning with

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

. Hymns often refer to original Latin hymns.

''Gotteslob''

The common German hymnal ''

'' of 1975 contained several songs from Bone's ''Cantate!'', some with revised wording. Some were included in its second edition of 2013, and some also in the Protestant hymnal '' EG''. In the following list, the GL number refers to the 2013 edition, with the former number in brackets. * GL 222 (112) "Herr, send herab uns deinen Sohn" for

, after Veni, veni, Emmanuel * GL 258 (158) "Lobpreiset all zu dieser Zeit" for

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

, also EG 550 (West), first two stanzas * GL 329 (220) "

Das ist der Tag, den Gott gemacht "Das ist der Tag, den Gott gemacht" (This is the day that God made) is a German Christian hymn for Easter. In the Catholic hymnal ''Gotteslob'' it appears as Gl 329. History The text was written by Heinrich Bone (1813–1893), a pedagogue who i ...

" for

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

, stanzas 1,2,5 * GL 351 (245) "

" for

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...

, after

* GL 142 (462) " Zu dir, o Gott, erheben wir", for the beginning of a service * GL 532 (584) "Christi Mutter stand mit Schmerzen", a paraphrase of the

Stabat mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Sabatier, Paul ''Life o ...

* GL 522 (587) "Maria aufgenommen ist" for

Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

* GL 526 (589) "", a paraphrase of "Omni die dic Mariae"

References

Bibliography

* * {{authority control Catholic Church in Germany Catholic hymnals 1847 books