"" (Lord Jesus Christ, true man and God) is a
Lutheran hymn
Martin Luther was a great enthusiast for music, and this is why it forms a large part of Lutheranism, Lutheran services; in particular, Luther admired the composers Josquin des Prez and Ludwig Senfl and wanted singing in the church to move away ...
by
Paul Eber. It is a hymn for the dying. One of the
hymn's tunes,
Zahn No. 423, is also used for .
History
The hymn appeared in both
High German
The High German languages (, i.e. ''High German dialects''), 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 Ben ...
, such as a Frankfurt print of 1563,
and in
Low German
Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...
spoken mainly in northern Germany, such as the 1565 hymnal ''Enchiridion geistliker leder und Psalmen'' from
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
, titled "Ein gebedt tho Christo umme ein salich affscheidt uth dissem bedröneden leuende" (A prayer to Christ for a blessed departure from this troubled life).
The hymn has been printed in eight stanzas of six lines, but also in twelve stanzas of four lines each.
The tune of "
Vater unser im Himmelreich" matched the six-line format, the melody of "Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht" was appropriate for the four-line format.
The hymn was also included early in
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
hymnals, first in a hymnal by Leisentrit, ''Geistliche Lieder vnd Psalmen'', in 1567, and copied to several others as "Ein gar uraltes katholisches Gebet um ein christliches Ende in Todes-Nöthen, auch Morgens und Abends zu beten aus dem Leisentrit" (A very old prayer for a Christian end in death's pain, also to be prayed in the morning and evening from the Leisentrit).
Lyrics
The text is given in the six-line format.
Musical settings
Johannes Eccard
Johannes Eccard (1553–1611) was a German composer and kapellmeister. He was an early principal conductor at the Berlin court chapel.
Biography
Eccard was born at Mühlhausen, in present-day Thuringia, Germany. At the age of eighteen he went t ...
set the first two four-line stanzas as a five-part
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
used the hymn as the basis for his chorale cantata
''Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott'', BWV 127, in 1725.
The hymn was translated to English and has appeared in 33 hymnals.
translated it as "Lord Jesus Christ, true man and God" in 1855.
References
External links
Johann Heinrich Bodecker, Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gottpartitura.org 2015
Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott Emans 100 / Chorale settingbach-digital.de
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16th-century hymns in German
Lutheran hymns