"" (Alone to God in the highest be glory) is an early

Lutheran hymn Martin Luther was a great enthusiast for music, and this is why it forms a large part of Lutheran services; in particular, Luther admired the composers Josquin des Prez and Ludwig Senfl and wanted singing in the church to move away from the ''a ...

, with text and melody attributed to Nikolaus Decius. With the reformers intending church service in German, it was intended as a German version of the

Gloria Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins) ...

part of the Latin mass, used in almost every service. Decius wrote three

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have ei ...

s, probably in 1523, while a fourth was added, probably by Joachim Slüter. "" is included in many German hymnals, including the current Protestant hymnal '' Evangelisches Gesangbuch'' and (in three stanzas) in the 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 ...

''.

Catherine Winkworth Catherine Winkworth (13 September 1827 – 1 July 1878) was an English hymnwriter and educator. She translated the German chorale tradition of church hymns for English speakers, for which she is recognized in the calendar of the Evangelical Luth ...

translated it to "All glory be to God on high".

History

With the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, the traditional Latin of Christian church services was changed to German. "" is a paraphrase of the Latin Gloria from the mass liturgy. The oldest prints of the hymn do not mention an author, but it is believed that it was written in

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...

by Nikolaus Decius in 1523, which makes it one of the earliest songs of the Reformation. The melody, Zahn No. 4457, is adapted from the Gloria of the mass for

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...

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 dur ...

, ''Lux et origo'' ( GL 114).

Early publications

"Aleyne God yn der Höge sy eere" is the first

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...

version of the later "" published in 's ''Geystlyke leder'' (

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state ...

, 1531). The first print in

High German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...

appeared in a hymnal by Valentin Schumann in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

in 1539. Text and melody of the hymn were published together for the first time in 's ''Kirchengesenge Deudtsch'' (

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...

1545).

Authorship

In 17th-century Leipzig hymnals the German text of "" was attributed to

Nikolaus Selnecker Nikolaus Selnecker (or Selneccer) (December 5, 1530 – May 24, 1592) was a German musician, theologian and Protestant reformer. He is now known mainly as a hymn writer. He is also known as one of the principal authors of the '' Formula of Co ...

. In his church history of

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

, published in five volumes between 1707 and 1720, refers to a Latin document from 1600, which named Decius as the author of text and melody of both "" and "". The creation of hymns by Decius is dated 1522/23, before the first publications of hymns by

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

(1524): thus these hymns belong to the earliest of the

Text and translation

"" is in four

s of seven lines each. The following text is taken from the Protestant hymnal '' Evangelisches Gesangbuch'' which has the hymn as EG 179. The Catholic hymnal ''

'' has only the first three stanzas, as GL 170, and a slight change in the rhythm. Both hymnals note 1523 as the year of writing.

translated the hymn to "All glory be to God on high, who hath our race befriended", which appears in 95 hymnals.

Hymn tune and musical settings

<< << \new Staff \new Lyrics \lyricmode \new Staff >> >> \layout \midi

Organ settings

As a hymn usually sung every Sunday, "" was often the basis for

chorale prelude In music, a chorale prelude or chorale setting is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque era and reached its culmination in the works of J.S. Bach, who wrote 46 ...

s. Among those by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

there are three in ''

Clavier-Übung III The ''Clavier-Übung III'', sometimes referred to as the ''German Organ Mass'', is a collection of compositions for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach, started in 1735–36 and published in 1739. It is considered Bach's most significant and extensiv ...

'' ( BWV 675, BWV 676 and BWV 677), and three others in the '' Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes'' ( BWV 662, BWV 663 and BWV 664), and BWV 711 in '' Kirnberger Chorale Preludes''. Other composers from the 18th century or earlier set the hymn tune for organ including

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (22 November 17101 July 1784), the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach, was a German composer and performer. Despite his acknowledged genius as an organist, improviser and compose ...

, Georg Böhm,

Christian Geist Christian Geist (c. 1650 – 27 September 1711) was a German composer and organist, who lived and worked mainly in Scandinavia. Biography He was born in Güstrow, where his father, Joachim Geist, was cantor at the cathedral school. From 1665– ...

, Johann Peter Kellner and

Melchior Schildt Melchior Schildt (born 1592 or 1593, Hanover – 18 May 1667) was a German composer and organist of the North German Organ School. He came from a long line of church musicians who had served the town of Hanover for over 125 years. He studied with ...

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Leipzig University Church, as a professor a ...

composed two

s, the first of his 52 chorale preludes, Op. 67 in 1902, and No. 2 of his 30 small chorale preludes, Op. 135a, in 1914.

Charles Tomlinson Griffes Charles Tomlinson Griffes ( ; September 17, 1884 – April 8, 1920) was an American composer for piano, chamber ensembles and voice. His initial works are influenced by German Romanticism, but after he relinquished the German style, his lat ...

wrote an organ piece in 1910.

Sigfrid Karg-Elert Sigfrid Karg-Elert (November 21, 1877April 9, 1933) was a German composer in the early twentieth century, best known for his compositions for pipe organ and reed organ. Biography Karg-Elert was born Siegfried Theodor Karg in Oberndorf am Neckar, ...

included a setting as No. 23 of his ''

66 Chorale improvisations for organ The 66 Chorale improvisations for organ, Op. 65, were composed by Sigfrid Karg-Elert between 1906 and 1908, and first published in six volumes in 1909. The composition was dedicated to "the great organist Alexandre Guilmant". Volume 1. Advent, ...

'', published in 1909.

Ernst Pepping Ernst Pepping (12 September 1901 – 1 February 1981) was a German composer of classical music and academic teacher. He is regarded as an important composer of Protestant sacred music in the 20th century. Pepping taught at the and the . His mus ...

used it for the Gloria of his ''Deutsche Choralmesse'', a six-part setting of 1928. Contemporary organ settings were written by

Aivars Kalējs Aivars Kalējs (April 22, 1951, Riga, Latvian SSR) is a Latvian composer, organist and pianist. Career Aivars Kalējs has written more than 100 opuses of symphonic, organ, piano, chamber and choir music. His works have won several compositio ...

, among others.

Vocal settings

Bach set the hymn as a

four-part chorale A Lutheran chorale is a musical setting of a Lutheran hymn, intended to be sung by a Church (congregation), congregation in a German Protestant Church service. The typical four-part harmony, four-part setting of a chorale, in which the sopranos ...

, ( BWV 260). In his extant cantatas, the melody appears in association with , for Ascension, and for , a paraphrase of Psalm 23 by Wolfgang Meuslin, printed in 1530.

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

included a setting of the hymn in his oratorio '' Paulus'', as No. 3, the first chorale, following the

overture Overture (from French language, French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Be ...

and a chorus.

References

Cited sources

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

* * , "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" (BWV 260), sung by the {{Authority control 16th-century hymns in German Lutheran hymns 1523 works