"" is a

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 ...

written by

Valerius Herberger Valerius Herberger (21 April 1562 – 18 May 1627) was a German Lutheran preacher and theologian. Life He was born at Fraustadt, Silesia (now Wschowa in Poland). He studied for three years at Freystadt in Silesia (now Kożuchów in Poland), and ...

in 1613. It is a ' (hymn for the dying). The text was published with two hymn tunes by

Melchior Teschner Melchior Teschner (29 April 1584 – 1 December 1635) was a German cantor, composer and theologian. Born in Wschowa in Poland, Teschner attended the ''Gymnasium'' in Zittau, Saxony, and studied under Johann Klee. In 1602 he began studies in music t ...

, Zahn Nos. 5403 and 5404a, in 1615. The second of these melodies was used in compositions such as

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 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 ...

and Max Reger. Bach used single stanzas in vocal works, including his ''St John Passion''.

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 ...

made a metrical translation to "Farewell I Gladly Bid Thee" which also appeared with the second tune as No. 137 in ''The Chorale Book for England'' in 1865.

Valet will ich dir geben

Herberger wrote the hymn in 1613 in response to the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

in Fraustadt, as a ' (hymn for the dying). Its subtitle reads:The hymn's first word, "Valet", is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

(fare thee well) in the original imprint: Herberger arranged his own Christian name "Valerius" as an acrostic—the first letters of each of the five stanzas form his name, Vale R I V S. The hymn text was first printed in Leipzig in 1614. Teschner composed two melodies for the hymn, Zahn 5403 and 5404a, which he published in (a devotional prayer) in 1615, both in a five-part setting.

Musical settings

used the second of these melodies in his compositions, for instance the

s BWV 735 and 736. He used the first stanza of the hymn as movement 3 in his cantata ''Christus, der ist mein Leben'', BWV 95, and the third stanza, "" (Within my heart's foundation), in his '' St John Passion''. Max Reger composed a chorale prelude as No. 38 of his 52 Chorale Preludes, Op. 67 in 1902.

Naji Hakim Naji Subhy Paul Irénée Hakim (Arabic: ''ناجي صبحي حكيم'' 'Naji Sobhi Hakim'' born 31 October 1955) is a Franco-Lebanese organist, composer, and improviser. He studied the organ under Jean Langlais at the Conservatoire de Paris, a ...

composed in 2011 "Valet will ich dir geben / 5 Variations for Choir and Organ on a Choral by Melchior Teschner". "" is part of the German Protestant hymnal , under number EG 523.

In English

Winkworth's translation was published as No. 137 in ''The Chorale Book for England'' in 1865, with a four-part harmonisation of the tune. The hymn tune is also known as "St. Theodulph" after

Theodulf of Orléans Theodulf of Orléans (Saragossa, Spain, 750(/60) – 18 December 821) was a writer, poet and the Bishop of Orléans (c. 798 to 818) during the reign of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious. He was a key member of the Carolingian Renaissance and an im ...

who was the author of the Latin hymn which became, in John Mason Neale's 1845 English translation, "All Glory, Laud and Honour".

References

External links

{{authority control 17th-century hymns in German Lutheran hymns Hymn tunes 1613 works 1610s in music