"Kommt herbei, singt dem Herrn" (Come hither, sing to the Lord) is a Christian hymn with text by

Diethard Zils Diethard Zils O.P. (born 1935) is a German Dominican, priest and hymnwriter. Born in Bottrop, Zils is known as a hymnwriter for the genre Neues Geistliches Lied and a translator of such songs. They have been included in the Catholic hymnal ''Go ...

in 1972, a paraphrase of

Psalm 95 Psalm 95 is the 95th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation". The Book of Psalms starts the third section of the He ...

to an Israeli melody. It is of the genre

Neues Geistliches Lied ''Neues Geistliches Lied'' (, ''new spiritual song''), abbreviated NGL, is a music genre of songs in German intended for church usage, and based on contemporary lyrics and with music by contemporary composers. History The idea to reach youn ...

(NGL), published in 1972. In the 2013 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 ...

'', it appears as GL 140. It is also contained in other hymnals and songbooks.

History

The Dominican Diethard Zils wrote the text in 1972 as a paraphrase of

, to a traditional melody from Israel, where the psalms were written. The melody is named "Kol dodi", and was used for a line from the Song of Songs. The song was published by Gustav Bosse Verlag in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

in 1972. This song, of the

genre, was included in the German Catholic hymnal ''Gotteslob'' of 1975 as GL 270. In the 2013 edition it is GL 140 in the section for the opening of church services. In the regional section of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

of the Protestant hymnal '' Evangelisches Gesangbuch'', it is EG 617. It is part of many other songbooks.

Text and melody

Zils created the text in six

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...

s of four lines each, to a popular melody from Israel. Every line is repeated; thus each line can be performed by cantor or choir, then repeated by the congregation. \transpose a e The beginning is a call ("Come") to get together and sing to the Lord, who is described as the one "der uns befreit" (who frees us). The related verse from Psalm 95 reads: "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation". In Jewish tradition, "salvation" often referred to the

exodus from Egypt The Exodus (Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four books of the Torah (or Pentateuch, corresponding to the first five books of the Bible), namely Ex ...

. The third line calls to the singer to face Him while singing, as in the psalm, explaining in the fourth line: "mehr als Worte sagt ein Lied" (a song says more than words). The song was originally in

G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the cont ...

, but was transposed for the ''Gotteslob'' to

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes needed ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 20th-century hymns in German 1972 songs Neues Geistliches Lied