"Seht, er lebt" (Look, he lives) is a Christian poem written by the

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

Lothar Zenetti in 1973. With an Israeli melody, it became an Easter hymn in the

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 ...

(NGL) genre, first published in 1975. In the 2013 Catholic hymnal ''

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 ...

'', it appears as GL 781 in the regional section for the

Diocese of Limburg The Diocese of Limburg (Latin: ''Dioecesis Limburgensis'') is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Cologne, with metropolitan see being the Archdiocese of Cologne. Its territory encompasses ...

History

Zenetti wrote the text in 1973. The poem appeared in the collection ''Sieben Farben hat das Licht'', by J. Pfeiffer in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. With a traditional melody from Israel, it was included in the German Catholic hymnal ''Gotteslob'' of 1975 in the regional section for the

as GL 835. In the 2013 edition it is GL 781 in the section for Easter, as a new Easter hymn.

Text and melody

Zenetti created a refrain and four

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, both of four lines each, to a popular melody from Israel which is also used for the earlier song " Kommt herbei, singt dem Herrn" by Diethard Zils (GL 140), a paraphrase of

Psalm 95 Psalm 95 is the 95th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation". The Book of Psalms starts the third section of the He ...

. While Zils repeated his lines when the music repeats, Zenetti wrote consecutive text in both refrain and stanzas. The refrain begins and ends the song, calling to look: \transpose a e Full of exclamation marks, the lines refer to

Jesus 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 ...

, who rose on the third day and "stands among us". A comparison of 15 new Easter hymns shows that two-thirds of them include a statement about the living Jesus, and all of them mention implications for the singers in the present and their reaction. The first stanza begins "Kommt durch die verschlossnen Türen" (Comes through the locked doors), alluding to

post-resurrection appearances of Jesus The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lord. ...

and stressing that Jesus says now as back then: "Habt keine Angst." (Do not be afraid.) and "Friede sei mit euch." (Peace be with you.) The second stanza begins "Und wir hören seine Worte" (And we listen to his words), referring to the two disciples walking to Emmaus, for whom he broke the bread. The third stanza begins "Keiner lebt nur für sich selber" (Nobody lives only for himself), presenting the idea that believers ("we") live and die belonging to the Lord. The final stanza begins "Er ist bei uns alle Tage" (He is with us always), recalling the promise at the ascension, according to . The song was set for four-part choir by Jürgen Theis, published by Butz. Kurt Grahl composed a setting for four-part choir, trumpet and strings or keyboard instrument.

References

External links

Alphabetisches Verzeichnis der Liedtitel und der Liedanfänge
(in German) bdkj-dv-koeln.de 2019 * Monika Pointner
Emmaus: … und während sie redeten
pfarre-kefermarkt.dioezese-linz.at 13 April 2020 * Jörg Voget
Ostern 2020
https://www.reformiert-neuenhaus.de April 2020 {{Authority control Catholic hymns in German Contemporary Christian songs German poems Neues Geistliches Lied