"" (O man, bewail thy sin so great) is a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Passion hymn Passion hymns are hymns dedicated to the Passion of Jesus. They are often sung during Passiontide, namely for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Many of them were used as chorales in Passions ''Passions'' is an American television soap opera t ...

with a text written by Sebald Heyden in 1530. The author reflects the

Passion of Jesus In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

, based on the Four Evangelists, originally in 23 stanzas. The lyrics were written for an older melody, "Es sind doch selig alle, die im rechten Glauben wandeln" ( Zahn No. 8303). The first and last stanzas have appeared in 11

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 Chr ...

Catherine Winkworth Catherine Winkworth (13 September 1827 – 1 July 1878) was an English hymnwriter and educator. She translated the German chorale tradition of church hymns for English speakers, for which she is recognized in the calendar of the Evangelical Luth ...

translated it as "O man, thy grievous sin bemoan". The hymn has been used in Passion music and is known in Bach's setting as a

chorale fantasia Chorale fantasia is a type of large composition based on a chorale melody, both works for organ, and vocal settings, for example the opening movements of Bach's chorale cantatas, with the chorale melody as a cantus firmus. History Chorale fantas ...

closing Part I of his '' St Matthew Passion''.

Hymn

Sebald originally wrote a reflection of the

based on the four

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

s in 23 stanzas of 12 lines each. The original title begins "Der Passion auß den vier Evangelisten" (The Passion from the Four Evangelists). It reflects the Passion, narrating the stations of the cross and adding the context of ''Heilsbedeutung'' (meaning for

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...

), beginning with man's sinful condition and ending with thanks. The first stanza opens addressing the listener "O Mensch" (O human being) and requesting him to remember and deplore his great sin (Sünde groß). The following lines state that

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

left his Father's bosom, came to Earth (kam auf Erden), born of a virgin for us (für uns), wanting to become a mediator (Mittler). The second half of the stanza mentions that he gave life to the dead and removed all sickness (all Krankheit), until it became urgent that he was sacrificed for us, carrying the heavy load of our sins (unsrer Sünden schwere Bürd), long on the cross. The melody goes back to Matthäus Greiter, around 1524, and appears in Strasbourg hymnals of 1525 and 1526 titled "Beati immaculati.Psalm 119". Current hymnals contain only the first and last stanzas.

Musical settings

The organ

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 ...

BWV 622 by

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 ...

from the ''

Orgelbüchlein The ''Orgelbüchlein'' (''Little Organ Book'') BWV 599−644 is a set of 46 chorale preludes for organ — one of them is given in two versions — by Johann Sebastian Bach. All but three were written between 1708 and 1717 when Bach served as org ...

'' has remained one of his most celebrated. In the second version of his '' St John Passion'', Bach began the work with a

on the first stanza of the hymn, which he later modified to conclude Part I of his '' St Matthew Passion'' as movement 29. : Bach O Mensch bewein

Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer. Biography Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...

quoted the hymn in his oratorio ''

Sankt-Bach-Passion ''Sankt-Bach-Passion'' (Saint Bach Passion) is an oratorio composed by Mauricio Kagel in 1985 for the tricentenary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach. It follows the model of Bach's Passions, but the topic is not biblical, rather refers to Bach ...

'' telling Bach's life, composed for the tricentenary of Bach's birth in 1985.

Translation

translated the hymn to "O man, thy grievous sin bemoan".

References

External links

O Mensch, bewein' dein' Sünde groß, BWV 402 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
ChoralWiki
O Mensch bewein dein Sünde groß (Johannes Werlin)
ChoralWiki

Text and translation of the first stanza {{DEFAULTSORT:O Mensch Bewein Dein Sunde Gross 16th-century hymns in German Lutheran hymns Hymn tunes Passion hymns