Book III

, made up exclusively of chorales.

German Chorales in the Hymnary

16th Century Martin Luther, 1483-1546, “A mighty fortress is our God” (549) “From heaven above to earth I come” (527) “Out of the depths I cry to Thee” (531-2) Nicolaus Selnecker, 1532-92, “Now cheer our hearts” (557) Philipp Nicolai, 1556-1608, “Wake, awake, for night is flying” (522) “How brightly shines the Morning Star” (529) 17th Century (_1_)—_Period of The Thirty Years War—1618-48_ Johann Heerman, 1585-1647, “Ah, dearest Jesus” (534) Josua Stegman, 1588-1632, “Abide with us, our Savior” (559) Matthaus von Löwenstern, 1594-1648, “Lord of our life” (278) Georg Weissel, 1590-1635, “Lift up your heads” (523) Heinrich Albert, 1604-51, “God who madest earth” (573) Ernst Homburg, 1605-81, “Christ, the life of all the living” (535) Michael Schirmer, 1606-73, “O Holy Spirit, enter in” (546) Paul Gerhardt, 1607-76, “O sacred Head, now wounded” (539) and others Gerhard Tersteegen, 1697-1769, “God reveals His presence” (506) “O power of love, all else transcending” (517) (_2_)—_Later 17th Century_ Johann Franck, 1618-77, “Deck thyself, my soul,” (552) Tobias Clausnitzer, 1619-84, “Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier” (553a) Georg Neumark, 1621-81, “He who would be in God” (571) Johann Scheffler, 1624-77, “I am the Lord, O hear my voice” (565) Joachim Neander, 1650-80, “Heaven and earth, the sea” (510) _18th Century_ Johann Mentzer, 1658-1734, “O that I had a thousand voices” (509) Erdmann Neumeister, 1671-1756, “Sinners Jesus will receive” (466) Benjamin Schmolck, 1672-1737, “My Jesus, as Thou wilt” (250) Philipp F. Hiller, 1699-1769, “O Son of God, we wait for” (524) “What mercy and divine compassion” (562) Christian F. Gellert, 1715-69, “How great, almighty is Thy” (516) Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750. The life of the great musician marks the close of the German Chorale period and for that reason his name is placed here. None of Bach’s original chorale melodies are found in the _Hymnary_ but use is made of a number of his harmonizations. See 539, 545, 556, 557, 564, 566.

7. Hymns of the Reformation: The Metrical Psalms.

While the German people, under the leadership of Luther, were singing chorales set to original religious poems, a large section of Protestantism, under the influence of John Calvin, confined itself to the singing of Psalms. To the French reformer, now preaching at Geneva, hymns were “man-made,” whereas the psalms were the inspired word of God and the only proper vehicle for the praise of God. Calvin, unlike Luther, was not a musician, and at first permitted only unison singing, unaccompanied. Part singing and instrumental accompaniment seemed to savor of the frivolous and worldly, an opinion which Calvin, however, was soon to modify. For two hundred years the Calvinistic churches on the Continent and in Britain were influenced in their worship song by the strict views of Calvin, limiting themselves to the metrical psalms and scriptural paraphrases. The German people in the meantime produced a rich treasury of original religious lyrics, contributed by some of their best poets.

Psalter Tunes and Metrical Psalms in the Hymnary

_Genevan Psalter_ Tunes, 1551. O Seigneur (19) Old 134th (128, 132, 616) Rendez à Dieu (306) Old 124th (354) Old 100th (594) _Scottish Psalter_, 1650.