"" ("Christ our Lord came to the Jordan") is a Lutheran hymn about baptism by Martin Luther, written in 1541 and published in 1543. It has been set in many musical compositions, including

cantatas A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of t ...

and

chorale preludes In music, a chorale prelude or chorale setting is a short liturgical composition for pipe organ, organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque music, Baroque era and reached its culmination in the works o ...

by Johann Sebastian Bach.

History of the hymn text

Luther wrote the hymn focused on baptism as part of his teaching about Lutheran concepts, possibly as the last hymn he wrote. Luther held sermons about baptism in the Easter week of 1540; it seems likely that he wrote the hymn in that context. It is closely connected to Luther's teaching about baptism in his Small Catechism, reflecting the structure of his questions and answers. Several later publications refer to the year 1541 as a first publication as a

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...

, which did not survive. The hymn appeared in 1543, summarized "A Spiritual Song of our Holy Baptism, which is a fine summary of What it is? Who established it? What are its benefits?" (""). In the Lutheran liturgy, the hymn was related to the feast day of John the Baptist. In the current Protestant hymnal, , it appears as EG 202.

Melody

The

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...

, Zahn No. 7246, in the Dorian mode, is older than the text and appeared already in 1524 in Johann Walter's choral hymnal with the hymn "" (a paraphrase of Psalm 67). When Luther looked for a melody for the new baptism hymn, "" was already assigned a different melody. It made sense to use a tune for a hymn about God's grace for a specific expression of that grace in baptism. Walter revised the four-part setting from 1524 with the melody in the tenor, adapting it to the different text. It was published in 1550. Below is the melody first published in 1524:

Text

Below is the text of Luther's hymn with the English translation by George Macdonald.

Use in musical compositions

The hymn has been set in many choral and organ compositions. A four-part setting by Wolf Heintz was used to introduce the Reformation in Halle in 1541. Choral settings include works by Hans Leo Hassler,

Johann Hermann Schein Johann Hermann Schein (20 January 1586 – 19 November 1630) was a German composer of the early Baroque era. He was Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1615 to 1630. He was one of the first to import the early Italian stylistic innovations into German ...

and Samuel Scheidt; while organ settings include a Ricercar by Michael Praetorius and chorale preludes by

Hieronymus Praetorius Hieronymus Praetorius (10 August 1560 – 27 January 1629) was a Northern German composer and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque whose polychoral motets in 8 to 20 voices are intricate and vividly expressive. Some of his organ ...

, Dieterich Buxtehude (BuxWV 180) and

Johann Pachelbel Johann Pachelbel (baptised – buried 9 March 1706; also Bachelbel) was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secularity, secular music, and h ...

. Johann Sebastian Bach composed the

chorale cantata A chorale cantata is a church cantata based on a chorale—in this context a Lutheran chorale. It is principally from the Germany, German Baroque music, Baroque era. The organizing principle is the words and music of a Lutheran hymn. Usually a chora ...

, for , the feast day of John the Baptist. The last verse of the hymn is the closing chorale of cantata . The melody was also used as the cantus firmus of two chorale preludes for

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

in his Clavier-Übung III: BWV 684, a four-part setting for two manuals and pedal; and BWV 685 for single manual.

References

External links