"" (Lamb of God, given for us) is a Christian hymn in German with text by

Eugen Eckert Eugen Eckert (born 1954) is a German social worker, minister, singer-songwriter and academic teacher. He is known for his lyrics for new spiritual songs (Neues Geistliches Lied), and his oratorios and musical plays. Career Born in Frankfurt am ...

and a tune by Horst Christill. It is of the genre

Neues Geistliches Lied ''Neues Geistliches Lied'' (, ''new spiritual song''), abbreviated NGL, is a music genre of songs in German intended for church usage, and based on contemporary lyrics and with music by contemporary composers. History The idea to reach youn ...

. The song reflects the liturgical

Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the " Lamb of God" is honoured within the Catholic Mass and other Christian liturgies descending from the Latin liturgical tradition. It is the name given to a specific prayer that occurs in these liturgies, and ...

. It is part of regional sections of the common German Catholic hymnal.

History, text and music

The Protestant theologian and pastor

from

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

wrote the text of "". Eckert and the composer

Horst Christill Horst Christill (born 1959) is a German church musician and composer of sacred music, especially hymns of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied (NGL). Life and career Born in Annweiler am Trifels, Christill first studied from 1976 music pedagogy, foc ...

are regarded as prolific authors of songs of

(New sacred song). The song appeared in the first common German Catholic hymnal '' Gotteslob'' in 1975 in the regional section for the Diocese of Limburg as GL 986, and is contained in its second edition there as GL 740. In the

Diocese of Hildesheim The Diocese of Hildesheim (Latin: ''Dioecesis Hildesiensis'') is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. Founded in 815 as a missionary diocese by King Louis the Pious, his son Louis the German appointed the famous former archbishop of Rheim ...

, it is part of the second edition as GL 767. The song is part of other hymnals and songbooks. As in the liturgical Agnus Dei, the

Lamb of God Lamb of God ( el, Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, Amnòs toû Theoû; la, Agnus Dei, ) is a title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God wh ...

is addressed three times, in three

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...

s of four lines each. In all three stanzas, the third line begins also with "Lamm Gottes". The first two stanzas, as in the liturgy, end in a call to have mercy. The tune was composed by Horst Christill. The melody is in

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consis ...

. The range is from low C to high C.

References

{{authority control German poems 20th-century hymns in German Neues Geistliches Lied