Luther’s tune is worthy of the text in its ponderous majesty. A small congregation, or a larger one that does not know it very well, can do little with it; only a large congregation singing lustily and in the characteristically German slow tempo can do it justice.
His Christmas hymn, “Vom Himmel hoch da komm’ ich her” (“From heaven above to earth I come”), his praise of Jesus Christ, “Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ” (“All praise to Thee, eternal Lord”), a revision of a pre-Reformation popular hymn, and his doctrinal hymn, rejoicing over the salvation wrought out by Jesus Christ, “Nun freuet euch, lieb’ Christen G’mein” (“Dear Christian people, now rejoice”), have been very much beloved and were very effective in building up the Protestant cause.
Luther deserves well of the Christian Church, not only because of his own hymns, but because of the inspiration he afforded others among his contemporaries, and to the generations since his day, to take up the writing of hymns. Among the co-laborers in this field in his own generation were Justus Jonas, Paul Eber, Erasmus Alber, Lazarus Spengler, Paul Speratus, and Nicolaus Decius. Luther furnished the idea, the inspiration, and the model for all these hymnists. According to Koch, fifty-one writers contributed hymns to swell the Lutheran hymnody between 1517 and 1560.
As was to be expected, the early German hymnody was also enriched by a number of excellent hymns from the Bohemian Brethren. They were translated by Michael Weiss and Johann Roh, German ministers who had been associated with them.
No small part of the immediate success of Luther’s hymns was the tunes which he provided. He used the melodies already current among the people. He had providentially associated with him musical helpers like Johann Walther and Ludwig Senfl, who did the musical editorial work on his issues. His settings of his “Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott” and “Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ” are still a valuable part of the melodic treasury of the Christian Church.
Chapter XII
THE LATER GERMAN HYMNODY
I. THE RISING STANDARD OF LITERARY VALUES
After Luther’s death, the impetus of his hymnic influence gradually lost its evangelical force, and a more self-consciously literary coterie raised both the literary and musical standards. Prominent among them was Bartolomaeus Ringwaldt (1530-1598), who wrote “Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit”—the German “Dies Irae”—which probably suggested the English hymn, “Great God! what do I see and hear?” He was a very fertile writer. Equally fertile was Nicolaus Selnecker (1530-1592), who wrote nearly one hundred and fifty hymns.
More important than either was Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608), a Westphalian pastor, whose “Wie schoen leuchtet der Morgenstern” (“O Morning Star, how fair and bright”) and “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” (“Sleepers, wake, a voice is calling”) have been and are the most widely used of all German hymns outside of Luther’s two masterpieces. Nicolai wrote them while a great pestilence was raging in Unna, during which fourteen hundred persons perished. He wrote the hymns for his own comfort and that of his people. He also wrote the chorales to which they are sung and which have been called respectively the “Queen” and “King” of German chorales. On the basis of their intrinsic value rather than on that of adaptation to American spirit and type of church life, they occasionally appear in our hymnals, but they are rarely or never sung. Miss Winkworth’s translation of the “King” may be judged by the first stanza:
“Wake, awake, the night is flying;