"" (literally: Praise God confidently with singing) is a Lutheran hymn in German, a paraphrase of the Latin

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...

, by the

Bohemian Brethren , image = AgnusDeiWindow.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , caption = Church emblem featuring the Agnus Dei.Stained glass at the Rights Chapel of Trinity Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States , main_classification = Proto-Prot ...

. The hymn is part of the current Protestant hymnal. The hymn was translated into English as "Praise God, praise God with singing". The hymn tune was used for several hymns in different languages, denominations and centuries.

History

The text of "" was written by the

, in six

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 as a loose paraphrase of the Latin

. It has been arttibuted to from Domascbitz near Leitmeritz in Bohemia, a bishop of the Brethren. He published the song in a 1544 hymnal, with a 1532 melody which was originally secular, "Entlaubet ist der Walde". The hymn appears in the German Protestant hymnal as EG 243. It is part of several other hymnals and songbooks. The song was translated into English as "Praise God, praise God with singing", providing four stanzas.

Tune and musical settings

The tune was first secular, and appeared in 1532 with the text "Entlaubet ist der Walde". It was first associated with a hymn in 1535 in Nürnberg. The

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...

was also used for the hymn for Pentecost " O komm, du Geist der Wahrheit" by

Philipp Spitta Julius August Philipp Spitta (27 December 1841 – 13 April 1894) was a German music historian and musicologist best known for his 1873 biography of Johann Sebastian Bach. Life He was born in , near Hoya, and his father, also called Phil ...

. In English, "Let me be Thine forever" is a translation of Nicolaus Selneccer's 1688 hymn "Lass mich dein sein und bleiben" (lit: Let me be Yours and remain it) by

Matthias Loy Matthias Loy (March 17, 1828 - January 26, 1915) was an American Lutheran theologian in the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio. Loy was a prominent pastor, editor, author and hymnist who served as president of Capital University, Columbu ...

. Other hymns to the melody include "Through Jesus' Blood and Merit", a free translation of

Simon Dach Simon Dach (29 July 1605 – 15 April 1659) was a German lyrical poet and hymnwriter, born in Memel, Duchy of Prussia (now Klaipėda in Lithuania). Early life Although brought up in humble circumstances (his father was a poorly paid court int ...

's "Ich bin bei Gott in Gnaden", and "Redeemed, restored, forgiven" by Henry Williams Baker. In German, Petronia Steiner wrote a Catholic

offertory hymn The offertory (from Medieval Latin ''offertorium'' and Late Latin ''offerre'') is the part of a Eucharistic service when the bread and wine for use in the service are ceremonially placed on the altar. A collection of Alms#Christianity, alms (off ...

" Wir weihn der Erde Gaben" (We devote the gifts of the earth) to the tune in 1945. In 1989, a few weeks before the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, Klaus-Peter Hertzsch, a pastor in Eisenach, used the melody for a song for a wedding of a relative: " Vertraut den neuen Wegen" (Trust the new ways). Adam Gumpelzhaimer composed a four-part

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

. Torsten Sterzik wrote a cantata, with the same cantus firmus but different vocal settings for the six stanzas, and two instrumental settings for winds. It was published by . Johannes Petzold wrote a four-part setting in 1961, published by in 1963, and left sketches for other settings for both voices and

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

. Michael Schopen composed a chorale prelude for organ. Slightly paraphrased as ''Lobt Gott getrost mit Singen'', the beginning is the title of a songbook of 51 popular songs from ''Evangelisches Gesangbuch'', intended for use in services and especially senior citizens' homes.

References

External links

Lob Gott getrost mit Singen
lieder-vom-glauben.de {{authority control 16th-century hymns in German Hymn tunes Lutheran hymns