"Wir pflügen und wir streuen" (We plough and sow) is a sacred song about thanksgiving for harvest, with text by

Matthias Claudius Matthias Claudius (15 August 1740 – 21 January 1815) was a German poet and journalist, otherwise known by the pen name of “Asmus”. Life Claudius was born at Reinfeld, Holstein, Reinfeld, near Lübeck, and studied at Jena. He spent the gre ...

. It was first published in 1783 as ''Das Bauernlied'' (The peasants' song). It became a hymn, with melodies by

Johann André Johann André (28 March 1741 – 18 June 1799) was a German musician, composer and music publisher of the Classical period. He was born and died in Offenbach am Main. In 1774, as the patriarch of a Huguenot family, André founded one of the firs ...

and

Johann Abraham Peter Schulz Johann Abraham Peter Schulz (31 March 1747, Lüneburg – 10 June 1800, Schwedt) was a German musician. He is best known as the composer of the melody for Matthias Claudius's poems "Der Mond ist aufgegangen" and " Wir pflügen und wir streuen", ...

. It appears in the current German Protestant hymnal ''Evangelisches Gesangbuch'' as EG 508 with the latter melody, and is used mostly for the German

Erntedankfest A harvest festival is an annual celebration that occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different places. ...

. Jane Montgomery Campbell translated it to English in 1861 as " We plough the fields and scatter".

History

The poem appeared first in 1783 as part of an article by Claudius in the fourth volume of '. Titled ''Paul Erdmanns Fest'', it describes a fictional rural harvest festival. As its highlight, a song is performed, alternating a cantor and the choir of the other peasants who sing a

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

. The early version began with a line "Im Anfang war’s auf Erden", describing the beginning according to the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...

1:2. It had 16

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, and a refrain that was slightly different from today's version. Claudius added his own melody to the poem.

Melodies

Claudius added his own melody to the poem. In the 19th century,

composed a new melody and chose eight of the stanzas for a version which appeared in both Protestant and Catholic hymnals, often sung in schools. Other melodies were also created for a song which became popular. The melody still used in current songbooks is attributed to

, and was published first in 1800 in Hanover in the second edition of a collection ''Melodien für Volksschulen'' (Melodies for elementary schools). His text has stanzas three to ten of Claudius, pairing two of them to one new stanza, with a slightly modified refrain. At the same time, the song entered official Protestant hymnals, such as an Oldenburg hymnal in 1791, and hymnals in Königsberg and Bremen in 1812. The ''

Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch The Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch (EKG, literally: Protestant church songbook) was the first common hymnal of German-speaking churches in the Protestant state churches (''Landeskirchen'') in Germany and the Protestant churches in Austria. It was ...

'' of 1950 contained the hymn in several regional editions. The sequel, '' Evangelisches Gesangbuch'' of 1995 has the song as EG 708 in the section ''Natur und Jahreszeiten'' (Nature and seasons). It is also part of the Swiss Reformed hymnal, and the hymnal of the Methodist Church of 2002.

Translation

In 1861, Jane Montgomery Campbell created a free translation to English in three stanzas, " We plough the fields and scatter". It was included, with a musical setting of the melody by Schulz by

John Bacchus Dykes John Bacchus Dykes (10 March 1823 – 22 January 1876) was an English clergyman and hymnwriter. Biography John Bacchus Dykes was born in Hull, England, the fifth child and third son of William Hey Dykes, a ship builder, later banker, an ...

, in various hymnals of different denominations. It became a popular song for the

Harvest festival A harvest festival is an annual celebration that occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different places. ...

in Britain and

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

in the United States.

References

External links

Lied auf gesangbuch-online.de

Wir pflügen und wir streuen
hymnary.org * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wir pflugen 18th-century hymns in German 1783 compositions Lutheran hymns

History

Melodies

Translation

References

Further reading

External links