539. O sacred Head, now wounded
Bernard of Clairvaux, 1091-1153
Tr. Paul Gerhardt, 1607-76
Tr. James W. Alexander, 1804-59
1.
O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden,
Voll Schmerz und voller Hohn,
O Haupt, zum Spott gebunden
Mit einer Dornenkron’,
O Haupt, sonst schön gezieret
Mit höchster Ehr’ und Zier,
Jetzt aber höchst schimpfieret:
Gegrüsset sei’st du mir!
2.
Du edles Angesichte,
Davor sonst schrickt und scheut
Das grosse Weltgewichte,
Wie bist du so bespeit!
Wie bist du so erbleichet!
Wer hat dein Augenlicht,
Dem sonst kein Licht nicht gleichet,
So schändlich zugericht’t?
3.
Die Farbe deiner Wangen,
Der roten Lippen Pracht
Ist him und ganz vergangen;
Des blassen Todes Macht
Hat alles hingenommen,
Hat alles hingerafft,
Und daher bist du kommen
Von deines Leibes Kraft.
4.
Nun, was du, Herr, erduldet,
Ist alles meine Last;
Ich hab’ es selbst verschuldet,
Was du getragen hast.
Schau her, hier steh’ ich Armer,
Der Zorn verdienet hat;
Gib mir, o mein Erbarmer,
Den Anblick deiner Gnad’!
5.
Erkenne mich, mein Hüter,
Mein Hirte, nimm mich an!
Von dir, Quell aller Güter,
Ist mir viel Gut’s getan.
Dein Mund hat mich gelabet
Mit Milch und süsser Kost;
Dein Geist hat mich begabet
Mit mancher Himmelslust.
6.
Ich will hier bei dir stehen,
Verachte mich doch nicht!
Von dir will ich nicht gehen,
Wenn dir dein Herze bricht;
Wenn dein Haupt wird erblassen
Im letzten Todesstoss,
Alsdann will ich dich fassen
In meinen Arm und Schoss.
7.
Es dient zu meinen Freuden
Und kommt mir herzlich wohl,
Wenn ich in deinem Leiden,
Mein Heil, mich finden soll.
Ach, möcht’ ich, o mein Leben,
An deinem Kreuze hier
Mein Leben von mir geben,
Wie wohl geschähe mir!
8.
Ich danke dir von Herzen,
O Jesu, liebster Freund,
Für deines Todes Schmerzen,
Da du’s so gut gemeint.
Ach gib, dass ich mich halte
Zu dir und deiner Treu’
Und, wenn ich nun erkalte,
In dir mein Ende sei!
9.
Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden,
So scheide nicht von mir;
Wenn ich den Tod soll leiden,
So tritt du dann herfür;
Wenn mir am allerbängsten
Wird um das Herze sein,
So reiss mich aus den Aengsten
Kraft deiner Angst und Pein!
10.
Erscheine mir zum Schilde,
Zum Trost in meinem Tod,
Und lass mich sehn dein Bilde
In deiner Kreuzesnot!
Da will ich nach dir blicken,
Da will ich glaubensvoll
Dich fest an mein Herz drücken.
Wer so stirbt, der stirbt wohl.
A profound hymn coming originally out of the golden age of Latin hymnody. Salve caput cruentatum is the last of a series of seven poems on the crucified Savior, each poem addressing itself to a separate member of Christ’s body—feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart, and head. The work is attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux, preacher of the Second Crusade, and one of the most brilliant of Latin hymn writers. Luther wrote of him: “If there has ever been a pious monk who feared God it was St. Bernard, whom alone I hold in much higher esteem than all other monks and priests throughout the globe.” Bernard founded a monastery in Wormwood, a robber-infested valley in France. He changed the name to “Clara Vallis,” (Beautiful Valley), from which is derived the designation “Clairvaux.”
Though composed in the twelfth century, the hymn did not achieve fame until five centuries later when it was translated into German by Paul Gerhardt, who, next to Luther, was the greatest of all German hymn writers. His translation, a free paraphrase, appeared in Crüger’s Praxis, 1656, and is considered by Philip Schaff to be “fully equal to the original.”
For comment on Gerhardt see [Hymn 134].
The translation into English was made in 1849 by James W. Alexander of Princeton, a Presbyterian. Schaff wrote that “Dr. Alexander is beyond doubt one of the best translators of German hymns into idiomatic English.” He also wrote concerning this hymn that it has “shown an imperishable vitality in passing from the Latin into the German and from the German into the English, and proclaiming in three tongues and in the name of three confessions—the Catholic, the Lutheran, and the Reformed—with equal effect, the dying love of our Savior, and our boundless indebtedness to Him.”
Our hymn is a selection of stanzas 1, 4, 8, and 10. In the first stanza, the line, “I marvel at the story,” is substituted for Alexander’s original which read, “Yet though despised and gory.” Stanza 10 has been frequently used as a prayer for the dying.
MUSIC. PASSION CHORALE was originally set to a love song entitled, “Mein G’müt ist mir verwirret.” The tune was composed by the distinguished organist, Hans Leo Hassler, and first appeared in his Lustgarten Neuer Teutscher Gesäng, 1601. In 1613 it appeared in Harmoniæ Sacræ, set to the hymn, “Herzlich thut mich verlangen,” and later it became associated with “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden.” It was a favorite melody with Bach, who used it five times in his St. Matthew Passion.
Hans Leo Hassler, 1564-1612, was born at Nürnberg and died at Frankfurt at the age of 47. He was a member of a distinguished musical family. After an early career as organist, he was sent to Venice to study under Andrea Gabriele, organist of St. Mark’s, becoming the earliest of important German composers to receive an Italian training. Returning to Germany, Hassler held positions in Augsburg, Nürnberg, and elsewhere. His numerous compositions for voice and organ are of such a standard as to give him a high place in German music, and most of them have been reprinted in modern times.
J. S. Bach, 1685-1750, who arranged the tune, is by far the greatest musician the Protestant Church has produced. Most of his life was spent in Leipzig where he labored from 1723 until his death in 1750, as cantor of the Thomas School and director of music at the Thomas and Nicolai churches. His genius as a master of the organ and composer of chorales and passion music has never been equaled. Though he lived in an age when opera flourished in Europe, he paid no attention to it, devoting all his talent to church music. There is something in his music that touches the deepest chords of religious emotion.