"" (literally: Awake, the voice is calling us) 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 ...

written in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

by Philipp Nicolai, first published in 1599 together with "". It appears in German

hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). They are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Christia ...

s and in several English hymnals in translations such as "Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying" ( Catherine Winkworth, 1858), "Wake, O wake! with tidings thrilling" ( Francis Crawford Burkitt, 1906), and "Up! Awake! From Highest Steeple" ( George Ratcliffe Woodward, 1908).

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 ...

based a

chorale cantata A chorale cantata is a church cantata based on a chorale—in this context a Lutheran chorale. It is principally from the Germany, German Baroque music, Baroque era. The organizing principle is the words and music of a Lutheran hymn. Usually a chor ...

on the hymn, , one of its many musical settings.

Nicolai

Philipp Nicolai wrote the hymn in 1598, a time when the plague had hit

Unna Unna () is a city of around 59,000 people in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the seat of the Unna (district), Unna district. The newly refurbished Unna station has trains to all major cities in North Rhine Westphalia including Dortmund, Köln H ...

where he lived for six months as a preacher after studies in theology at the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

. The text is based on the Parable of the Ten Virgins (). Nicolai refers to other biblical ideas, such as from

Revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...

the mentioning of marriage () and the twelve gates, every one of pearl (), and from the

First Epistle to the Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church i ...

the phrase "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard" (). In 1599 Nicolai published both the

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...

, Zahn No. 8405a, and the words to the hymn. Portions of the melody are similar to the older hymn tune " In dulci jubilo" ("In sweet rejoicing") and to "" ("Silver Air") by

Hans Sachs Hans Sachs (5 November 1494 – 19 January 1576) was a German ''Meistersinger'' ("mastersinger"), poetry, poet, playwright, and shoemaking, shoemaker. Biography Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg (). As a child he attended a singing school that w ...

. In the first publication in ("Mirror of Joy of the Life Everlasting"), the text was introduced: The author wrote in his preface, dated 10 August 1598: Nicolai's former student, , had died of the plague at the age of fourteen, and Nicolai used the initials of "Graf zu Waldeck" in reverse order as an

acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the Fre ...

to begin the three stanzas: "Wachet auf", "Zion hört die Wächter singen", "Gloria sei dir gesungen".

Musical settings

Dieterich Buxtehude Dieterich Buxtehude (; born Diderich Hansen Buxtehude, ; – 9 May 1707) was a Danish composer and organist of the Baroque music, Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal ...

composed two

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s based on the hymn, BuxWV 100 and BuxWV 101.

based his

, on the hymn and derived one of the

Schübler Chorales ' ( 'six chorales of diverse kinds, to be played on an organ with two manuals and pedal'), commonly known as the ''Schübler Chorales'' (), BWV 645–650, is a set of chorale preludes composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Johann Georg Schü ...

, BWV 645, from the cantata's central movement. His son Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach wrote a cantata for a four-part choir, . In

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

's ''St. Paul'' oratorio, ''Wachet auf'' features prominently as a chorale and also as the main theme of the overture. In 1900,

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, a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University Chu ...

composed a fantasia for organ on "" as the second of Three chorale fantasias, Op. 52. He composed a

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

as No. 41 of his 52 chorale preludes, Op. 67 in 1902. Herbert Blendinger also wrote a chorale fantasia on the hymn, Op. 49. Norwegian-American composer F. Melius Christiansen composed a famous ''a capella'' choral arrangement of the hymn in 1925, titled "Wake, Awake" in English. Hugo Distler composed an organ

partita Partita (also ''partie'', ''partia'', ''parthia'', or ''parthie'') closely resemble the dance suites of the Baroque music, Baroque Period (and are often used synonymously with Suite (music), suites) with the addition of a prelude movement at the ...

based on the hymn in 1935 (Op. 8/2). The following example is the final movement of Bach's cantata, a four-part setting of the final stanza: : << << \new Staff \with \new Lyrics \lyricmode \new Lyrics \lyricmode \new Staff \with >> >> \layout \midi :

In English

Hymnologist John Julian, in his 1907 '' Dictionary of Hymnology'', listed sixteen English translations of this hymn, ten of which were then in common use. The following year, Duncan Campbell reported that "the favourite rendering" was either that of Catherine Winkworth or the one compiled by William Cooke. Both of these translations are titled "Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying"; Cooke's translation is based on Winkworth's and other translations, with additions by Cooke himself.

Nicolai

Musical settings

In English

References

Further reading

External links