"" ("Sing a New Song unto the Lord") is a Christian

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

in German. It was written by Georg Alfred Kempf, a Protestant pastor in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, in 1941. With a 1956 melody by

Adolf Lohmann Adolf Lohmann (10 January 1907 – 19 October 1983) was a German music educator and a composer of sacred music. Several of his hymn melodies are part of the Catholic hymnal ''Gotteslob''. Career Born in Düsseldorf, Lohmann worked there as a mu ...

, it is part of the common German 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 ...

'' (2013).

History

Georges Alfred Kempf was born on 10 December 1916 in Val d'Ajo, Département des Vosges,

, the son of farmers in the mountains (''Bergbauern''). As a young farmer, he entered the

Hermannsburg Mission Seminary The Hermannsburg Mission Seminary (german: Missionsseminar Hermannsburg) is a seminary in Hermannsburg, Germany. It is part of the Evangelical-Lutheran Mission in Lower Saxony (ELM), the common missionary work of the state churches of Hanover, Br ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, and studied Protestant theology further in Erlangen, Tübingen and Strasbourg. He was pastor in several villages in Alsace. From 1946, he published ''Fraternité Evangélique'', an illustrated monthly paper, and from 1962 to 1978 ''Le Messager Évangélique'', a weekly church paper. He was leader of a Jugendspielschar (theatre group of young people) and wrote several plays about Biblical scenes for them. Kempf died in

Ingwiller Ingwiller (; ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The commune lies within the North-Vosges natural park. History The first known mention of Ingwiller dates from the year 742 a.C. as ''Ingoniunilare' ...

, Alsace, on 24 March 2013. He wrote the poem "" in 1941. At the time, Alsace had been annexed by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. In his French version, it begins "Louez Dieu d’un chant nouveau, qui peut l’interdire?" The beginning of the poem is reminiscent of the call to sing a new song to the Lord as in

Psalm 98 Psalm 98 is the 98th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things". The Book of Psalms starts the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and, as such, ...

, and the second line already mentions conflict: "Niemand solls euch wehren" (nobody shall deny it to you). In the first common German Catholic hymnal, the 1975 ''Gotteslob'', the song appeared as GL 268 with Lohmann's melody. In the 2013 edition, it is GL 409. It is also part of other songbooks.

Text

The poem is in 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 of seven lines each, rhyming ABABCCB. The first stanza begins with the call to sing a new song to the Lord, as in

Psalm 96 Psalm 96 is the 96th psalm of the Book of Psalms, a hymn. The first verse of the psalm calls to praise in singing, in English in the King James Version: "O sing a new song unto the Lord". Similar to Psalm 98 ("Cantate Domino") and Psalm 149, th ...

and

. It then mentions that God never rests (paraphrasing

Psalm 121 Psalm 121 is the 121st psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint a ...

:4), and that he still works miracles today. The second stanza expresses that his mercy is new every day (based on

Lamentations The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ...

3:23), even on ways through Night ("durch Nacht"). The third stanza looks back on past support (as mentioned in

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...

1:31) and calls for confidence ("Zuversicht"). The fourth stanza concludes on this basis to sing a new songs to him, wherever the sun "looks" (Allsoweit die Sonne sieht), paraphrasing

Psalm 113 Psalm 113 is the 113th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Praise ye the Lord, O ye servants of the Lord". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian ...

:3, and let it sound brightly ("lasst es hell erklingen").

Melodies and musical settings

composed a melody in 1952, and revised it in 1956. It uses changing

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

, 4/4, 5/4 and 6/4, indicating a new approach. Paul Horn composed a cantata for three voices and instruments in 1978, published by

Carus-Verlag Carus-Verlag is a German music publisher founded in 1972 and based in Stuttgart. Carus was founded by choral conductor Günter Graulich and his wife Waltraud with an emphasis on choral repertoire. The catalogue currently includes more than 26,00 ...

. The music is independent from Lohmann's melody, is in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

and treats the stanzas differently, with a prelude and an interlude. In 2008,

Josef Friedrich Doppelbauer Josef Friedrich Doppelbauer (5 August 1918 – 16 January 1989) was an Austrian composer, organist and choral conductor. He was professor of organ and composition, especially of church music, at the Salzburg Mozarteum from 1960 to 1988, serving as ...

composed a four-part setting, again by Carus. After the publication of the second edition of the ''Gotteslob'' in 2013, a three-part setting was included in the accompanying ''Chorbuch Gotteslob'' by Carus-Verlag.

References

External links

*
Adolf Lohmann-Nachlaß – Archivbestände
(in German) hf.uni-koeln.de * Notker Bohner
"Singt dem Herrn ein neues Lied, lasst es hell erklingen!"
stjosef-frankfurt.de 2014 {{Authority control 20th-century hymns in German German Christian hymns 1941 songs