"" (From my heart I hold you dear, o Lord) is a
Lutheran hymn
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 ''a ...
in German by the Protestant theologian and
reformer Martin Schalling
Martin Schalling the Younger (21 April 1532 – 29 December 1608) was a Protestant theologian, reformer and hymnwriter. He was the son of Martin Schalling the Elder.
Life
Schalling was born in Strasbourg in 1532. He studied in Wittenberg and ...
, written in
Amberg in 1569 and first printed in 1571.
It is sung to an anonymous melody,
8326, which appeared in a
tablature
Tablature (or tabulature, or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches.
Tablature is common for fretted stringed instruments such as the guitar, lute or vihuela, as well as many fr ...
book for organ in 1577.
The hymn is often used for funerals, especially the third and last stanza,
"" (Ah Lord, let thine own angels dear).
It appears in the current German Protestant hymnal (EG).
Text
The first theme of the hymn is the love to God and one's neighbour, following the
Great Commandment
The Great Commandment (or Greatest Commandment) is a name used in the New Testament to describe the first of two commandments cited by Jesus in , , and in answer to him in :
Most Christian denominations consider these two commandments as, toget ...
. Schalling included thoughts from . The hymn is regarded as a (song for the dying), as Schalling expressed stations of the transition after death in the last stanza, according to Lutheran doctrine as understood in the 17th century. The soul is seen as carried by angels to (
Abraham's bosom
"Bosom of Abraham" refers to the place of comfort in the biblical Sheol (or Hades in the Greek Septuagint version of the Hebrew scriptures from around 200 BC, and therefore so described in the New Testament) where the righteous dead abided prio ...
), according to , the body transforming in the grave, rising on the last day ("") to be reunited with the soul.
The final line is "" (I want to praise you for ever!)
Music
Several composers used the tune, some also the text.
chorale prelude
In music, a chorale prelude or chorale setting is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque era and reached its culmination in the works of J.S. Bach, who wrote 46 ...
s were composed by
Johann Friedrich Alberti
Johann Friedrich Alberti (11 January 1642 – 14 June 1710) was a German composer and organist.
Alberti was born in Tönning, Schleswig. He received his musical training in Leipzig from Werner Fabricius and in Dresden from Vincenzo Albrici ...
and Bach (
BWV
The (BWV; ; ) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2 ...
340 and BWV 1115
), among others.
Heinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...
composed both a (Sacred concerto,
SWV
SWV (Sisters with Voices) is an American R&B vocal trio from New York City whose members are Cheryl (Coko) Gamble, Tamara (Taj) Johnson, and Leanne (Lelee) Lyons. Formed in 1988 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B g ...
348) and a
motet (SWV 387).
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude (; ; born Diderik Hansen Buxtehude; c. 1637 – 9 May 1707) was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal a ...
wrote an extensive
cantata (
BuxWV 41), probably for a church concert at the
Marienkirche in Lübeck, a work regarded as a major Baroque cantata because of its clear architecture and thoughtful interpretation of the text.
composed a sacred cantata.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
used the hymn in
his cantatas and notably to conclude his ''
St John Passion''. In 1724, he used stanza 3, "" (Ah Lord, let thine own angels dear), in the first version of the work, and returned to it in the fourth and last version.
In , composed in 1726 for St. Michael's Day, he quotes the melody instrumentally in the central tenor aria, played by the trumpet.
Alfred Dürr
Alfred Dürr (3 March 1918 – 7 April 2011) was a German musicologist. He was a principal editor of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the second edition of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Professional career
Dürr studied musicology and Clas ...
writes that the Leipzig congregation would understand it as an allusion to the third stanza. Bach actually used this stanza to end , written for the same occasion two or three years later.
Bach used the first stanza to conclude , written for Pentecost Monday of 1726.
Hugo Distler
August Hugo Distler (24 June 1908 – 1 November 1942)Slonimsky & Kuhn, ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', v. 2, p. 889 was a German organist, choral conductor, teacher and composer.
Life and career
Born in Nuremberg, Distler att ...
composed a chorale motet for eight vocal parts
a cappella, his Op. 2, which
Karl Straube
Montgomery Rufus Karl Siegfried Straube (6 January 1873 – 27 April 1950) was a German church musician, organist, and choral conductor, famous above all for championing the abundant organ music of Max Reger.
Career
Born in Berlin, Straube stu ...
recommended for print as the work of a mature master of polyphony.
"" is part of the current German Protestant hymnal (EG) under number 397.
References
External links
Ach Herr, laß dein lieb Engelein(final stanza, from
Bach's St John Passion), by the
Netherlands Bach Society
The Netherlands Bach Society ( nl, Nederlandse Bachvereniging) is the oldest ensemble for Baroque music in the Netherlands, and possibly in the world. The ensemble was founded in 1921 in Naarden to perform Bach's ''St Matthew Passion'' on Good Frid ...
{{English-language Lutheran hymns
16th-century hymns in German
Lutheran hymns
Hymn tunes