"O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf" (O Saviour, tear open the heavens) is a Christian

Advent song Advent songs (german: Adventslieder, link=no) are songs and hymns intended for Advent, the four weeks of preparation for Christmas. Topics of the time of expectation are the hope for a Messiah, prophecies, and the symbolism of light, among others. S ...

. The text was first printed in 1622, attributed to

Friedrich Spee Friedrich Spee (also ''Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld''; February 25, 1591 – August 7, 1635) was a German Society of Jesus, Jesuit priest, professor, and poet, most well known as a forceful opponent of Witch trials in the early modern period, wit ...

; the melody was first printed in 1666.

History

The song was first published in Würzburg in the collection ''Das Allerschönste Kind in der Welt'' (The most beautiful child in the world). Its author is not named, but is thought to be

, due to similarities to his later collection ''Trutznachtigall''. The text was written in the context of the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

, the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

and

witch trials A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern per ...

. The text was first sung to the melody of "Conditor alma siderum". The melody known today appeared first in the '' Rheinfelsisches Gesangbuch'' of 1666. The song is focused on the longing for the arrival of a Saviour. It has been included in both Catholic and Protestant hymnals; in Protestant hymnals sometimes with an added seventh stanza of unknown authorship. It is part of the Catholic ''

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 ...

'' as GL 231, of the '' Evangelisches Gesangbuch'' as EG 7, in the ' as RG 361,. in the ' as EM 141, in the hymnal ' as FL 189, and in the ' as MG 244.

Theme and text

The song is based on a verse in the

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...

, in the Latin text from the

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

that the author knew "Rorate coeli de super, et nubes pluant justum: aperiatur terra, et germinet Salvatorem" which was set in the

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...

Rorate caeli "Rorate caeli" or "Rorate coeli" ('Drop down, ye heavens') are the opening words of in the Vulgate. The text appears at several points in the Christian liturgy during Advent. Use in the western Mass and Offices The text is frequently sung to p ...

''. The beginning is related to another verse by Isaiah: "Ach dass du den Himmel zerrissest und führest herab, dass die Berge vor dir zerflössen" From the fourth stanza on, the believers appear as a "we" (wir), describing the miserable conditions that need to change. Added later and first appeared in

David Gregor Corner David Gregor Corner, (1585 – 9 January 1648) was a German Benedictine abbot, hymn writer and theologian best known for his influential 1631 ''Gross Catholisches Gesängbuch'' ("Great Catholic Hymnal"). Born in Hirschberg, Germany (now Jelenia Gór ...

's collection in 1631:

Melody and settings

O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf (Erstdruck mit Melodie, Rheinfelsisches Gesangbuch 1666)

The melody in

Dorian mode Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different but interrelated subjects: one of the Ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' (characteristic melodic behaviour, or the scale structure associated with it); one of the medieval musical modes; or—mos ...

appears first in the Rheinfelsisches Gesangbuch of 1666. It may have been composed especially for the text. The hymn was set to music by composers such as

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

Johann Nepomuk David Johann Nepomuk David (30 November 1895 – 22 December 1977) was an Austrian composer. Life and career David was born in Eferding. He was a choirboy in the monastery of Sankt Florian and studied at an episcopal teacher training college in Linz, ...

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 at ...

and Johannes Weyrauch.

Richard Wetz Richard Wetz (26 February 1875 – 16 January 1935) was a German late Romantic composer best known for his three symphonies. In these works, he "seems to have aimed to be an immediate continuation of Bruckner, as a result of which he actually ...

used it in his .

Literature

* Michael Fischer: ''"O JESV mein du schöner Held". Das Motiv von der Schönheit Christi im 17. Jahrhundert.'' In: ''Spee-Jahrbuch.'' Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Friedrich-Spee-Gesellschaften Düsseldorf und Trier 13 (2006), , pp. 145–158
online
PDF, 416 KB). * (2010) ''Kirchenlied und Kultur. Studien und Standortbestimmungen''. Tübingen:Francke. , pp. 210 ff. (). * Joachim Pritzkat: ''O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf. Zur 374jährigen Geschichte eines Liedes von Friedrich von Spee''. In: Hermann Kurzke, Hermann Ühlein (ed.): ''Kirchenlied interdisziplinär: Hymnologische Beiträge aus Germanistik, Theologie und Musikwissenschaft''. 2nd edition. Peter Lang, Frankfurt a.M. 2002, , pp. 131–172. * Joachim Pritzkat: ''Wo bleibstu Trost der gantzen Welt? Zur Spannung zwischen Diesseitsangst und Jenseitshoffnung bei Friedrich von Spee und Andreas Gryphius''. In: ''Spee-Jahrbuch'' 5 (1998), , pp. 107–116
historicum.net
.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf 17th-century hymns in German Advent songs