"Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen" (Why should I then grieve) is a Lutheran
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...
with a text by
Paul Gerhardt written in 1653. It was first published that same year in the fifth edition of
Johann Crüger's hymnal ''
Praxis Pietatis Melica'', set to a melody composed by Crüger. In the 1993 Protestant hymnal, ''
Evangelisches Gesangbuch
''Evangelisches Gesangbuch'' (''EG''; , "Protestantism, Protestant song book") is the current hymnal of German-language congregations in Germany, Alsace and Lorraine, Austria, and Luxembourg, which was introduced from 1993 and 1996, succeeding ...
'', it appears as number 370 with a melody composed by
Johann Georg Ebeling, which was published with the divergent title "Warum sollt ich mich doch grämen" in ''Pauli Gerhardi Geistliche Andachten'' in 1666.
Text
The text of
Paul Gerhardt's hymn "Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen" was first published in 1653, in the fifth edition of
Johann Crüger's hymnal ''
Praxis Pietatis Melica''.
[ Johann Crüger, '' Praxis Pietatis Melica. Das ist: Übung der Gottseligkeit in Christlichen und trostreichen Gesängen'', Berlin, Editio V. , 1653, pp.&nbs]
573
ff.
Scan
at the Bavarian State Library
The Bavarian State Library (, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the biggest universal and research libra ...
). Below is the text of the first stanza, in the original German:
Musical settings
Johann Crüger's hymn tune for "Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen", published in the 1653 fifth edition of his ''Praxis Pietatis Melica'', has 6455a as
Zahn number.
Several variants of Crüger's melody for the hymn were published in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1666
Johann Georg Ebeling published the hymn with a new melody, Zahn 6456a, under the variant title "Warum sollt ich mich doch grämen", in ''Pauli Gerhardi Geistliche Andachten''.
Also this hymn tune was published in several variants in the 18th and 19th centuries. Other tunes for the hymn, sometimes partly based on Ebeling's setting, were published from the 17th to the 19th century (Zahn 6457–6462).
Zahn 6462 is the variant
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 in
Part III of his ''
Christmas Oratorio
The ''Christmas Oratorio'' (German: ''Weihnachtsoratorium''), , is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance in a churc ...
'', with the 15th stanza of Gerhardt's hymn "
Fröhlich soll mein Herze springen" ("Ich will dich mit Fleiß bewahren") as text. This version of the melody, a simplification of the Zahn 6461 melody, was first published in 1769 as No. 143 in the second volume of
Bach's four-part chorales published by Birnstiel, and is thus attributed to Bach.
"Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen", BWV 422, is another
four-part chorale harmonisation by Bach of the same tune.
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
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. 43 of his
52 Chorale Preludes, Op. 67 in 1902.
References
Sources
*
Further reading
* Möller, Christian (ed.), ''Ich singe dir mit Herz und Mund. Liedauslegungen – Liedmeditationen – Liedpredigten. Ein Arbeitsbuch zum Evangelischen Gesangbuch'', Stuttgart 1997,
* Thost, Karl Christian, ''Bibliographie über die Lieder des Evangelischen Gesangbuchs'', Göttingen 2006,
* Johann Friedrich Bachmann: ''Paulus Gerhardts geistliche Lieder: historisch-kritische Ausgabe''. Oehmigke, Berlin 1866, pp. 109–111 ().
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Warum sollt ich mich denn gramen
1653 works
17th-century hymns in German
Lutheran hymns
Hymns by Paul Gerhardt