"Sei uns willkommen, Herre Christ" is the earliest surviving

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

hymn in the German language. It originated as a leise and its melody is first recorded as a fragment in the Liuthar Gospels at Aachen Cathedral Treasury, probably dating to the 14th century. The earliest complete surviving version is in a manuscript from

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

dating to 1394. August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben saw the hymn as originating in the 11th century and in 1861 reconstructed a translation from the Erfurt version back into

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

. August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben: ''Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenliedes bis auf Luthers Zeit.'' 1861, pp. 29f. The song welcomes the Lord Christ ("''Herre Christ''") on earth ("''auf Erden''") as the Lord of "us all" ("''unser aller''"). The hymn is also known as the ''Aachener Weihnachtslied'' (

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...

) or ''Aachener Schöffenlied'' (Aachen juror carol) – according to old Aachen chronicles it was sung from the choir stalls of

Aachen Cathedral Aachen Cathedral (german: Aachener Dom) is a Roman Catholic church in Aachen, Germany and the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen. One of the oldest cathedrals in Europe, it was constructed by order of Emperor Charlemagne, who was buri ...

by the ''schöffen'', appointed honourable citizens involved in general government and

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jur ...

, at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.

Christian Quix Christian Quix (8 October 1773, Hoensbroek – 13 January 1844, Aachen) was a Roman Catholic priest, heimatforscher (local historian) and from 1833 the director of the Stadtbibliothek Aachen, the city library of Aachen. Life The son of a typica ...

: ''Historische Beschreibung der Münsterkirche und der Heiligthumsfahrt in Aachen.'' Urlichs, Aachen 1825, p. 119 ().

Melody

''Sei uns willkommen, Herre Christ'' appeared in the 1975 '' Gotteslob'', a German Catholic hymnal, as GL 131 with a 14th or 15th century melody from Aachen in modern notation and with the addition of a new second verse from 1970. It is no longer included in the main section of the new '' Gotteslob'', introduced on the first Sunday of

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

in 2013, but the regional section of the Diocese of Limburg includes it as GL 757. The current Protestant hymnal '' Evangelisches Gesangbuch'' (EG 22) includes it as a round under the title ''Nun sei uns willkommen, Herre Christ'', with a 1934 canon melody by Walter Rein.

Ancient melody

\relative c' \addlyrics \addlyrics Source:Hans Jürgen Roth: ''Haus zweier Welten – 1200 Jahre Aachener Dom.'' B. Kühlen, Mönchengladbach 1999,
p. 50

Modern melody

Source: ''Gotteslob'' (1975) nr. 131

Lyrics

In ''

Deutscher Liederhort The ''Deutscher Liederhort'' is a large collection of Volkslieder (folk-song)s, now considered their authoritative source. It is often abbreviated as "Erk-Böhme" after its editors Ludwig Erk and Franz Magnus Böhme Franz Theodor Magnus Böhme (1 ...

'' (1894),

Ludwig Erk Ludwig Christian Erk (6 January 1807, Wetzlar – 25 November 1883, Berlin) was a German musicologist, music teacher, academic, composer and folk-song collector. Bibliography * Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz: Erk, Ludwig Christian. In: Biographisch- ...

and Franz Magnus Böhme give two Dutch versions of the lyrics and the following three German versions:

First version

Aachen fragment, 14th or 15th century

Syt willekomen, heirre kirst, – ''Be ye welcome, Lord Christ'' want du unser alre herre bis. – ''May you be our lord of all''

Erfurt manuscript c. 1394

Sys willekomen heirre kerst, – ''Be ye welcome, Lord Christ'' want du onser alre heirre bis, – ''May you be our lord of all'' sys willekomen, lieve heirre, – ''Be ye welcome, dear Lord'' her in ertrische also schone: – ''lord on earth thus beautiful'' Kirieleys. – '' kyrie eleison''

Second version – Aachen 1825

Nun siet uns willekomen, hero kerst, Die ihr unser aller hero siet. Nu siet uns willekomen, lieber hero, Die ihr in den kirchen schöne siet. Kyrie-eleyson! Nun ist gott geboren, unser aller trost, Der die höllsche pforten mit seinem kreutz aufstoes. Die mutter hat geheischen maria, Wie in allen kersten-bucheren geschriben steht. Kyrie-eleyson!

Third version – re-issue by Fallersleben, 1861

Nu sîs uns willekomen hêrro Crist, du unser aller hero bist! nu sîs uns willekomen lieber herro, der du in den kirchen stast scôno. Kyrieleison. Nu ist uns geborn unser aller trôst der die hellischen porten mit sîm kriuze ûfslôz. diu mueter ist geheizen Marjâ, also in allen kristen buechen stât. Kyrieleison.

Bibliography (in German)

, Franz Magnus Böhme (ed.): ''

. Auswahl der vorzüglicheren Deutschen Volkslieder, nach Wort und Weise aus der Vorzeit und Gegenwart.'' Band 3. Breitkopf und Härtel, Leipzig 1894 (Nachdruck: Olms, Hildesheim 1988), pp. 625f.
Digitalisat
. * Johannes Janota: ''Sit willekomen herre kirst.'' In: Kurt Ruh (Hrsg.): ''Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters.

Verfasserlexikon The Verfasserlexikon (full title: ''Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters. Verfasserlexikon'') is a Medieval German literature reference book. Currently in its second fully revised edition, it comprises various encyclopaedic articles and accou ...

.'' Band 8. de Gruyter, Berlin 1992, , Sp. 1287–1288
Digitalisat
. * Theo Mang, Sunhilt Mang (ed.): ''Der Liederquell.'' Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2007, , pp. 1048f. *

Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann (26 June 1918 – 12 June 1993) was a German folklorist, anthropologist and ethnologist. She was an academic teacher, from 1946 at the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin in East Berlin and from 1961 at the University of ...

: ''Das Buch der Weihnachtslieder.'' Schott, Mainz 1982, , pp. 9f.

References

{{Authority control German-language Christmas carols History of Aachen German Christian hymns Songs about Jesus German church music Advent songs