The night has advanced

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The night has advanced is a poem created by Jochen Klepper (1903–1942), which Johannes Petzold set to music as an Advent song has found its way into numerous hymn books.

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Beginning of text in the first edition from 1938

The poem, composed on December 18, 1937, appeared in the volume Kyrie in 1938 . Holy songs. under the title Christmas carol . Klepper sent him the Bible verse programmatically:

“And you do this because you recognize the time, namely that the hour has come to get up from sleep, because our salvation is closer now than it was when we believed. The night has advanced, but the day is near. So let us put aside the works of darkness and put on the weapons of light. ( Rom 13 : 11-12  LUT ) "

The text is rich in biblical allusions, the " morning star " ( Rev 22,16  LUT ), "weeped for the night" ( Ps 30,6  LUT ), "all angels serve" ( Heb 1,6  LUT ), "from God's face coming salvation ”( Acts 3,20  LUT ),“ God wants to dwell in the dark ”( 1 Kings 8,12  LUT ),“ whoever trusts the son comes out of judgment ”( Jn 5,24  LUT ), as well as in numerous Quotes from the hymn book tradition, "Fear and Pain" ( Lord Jesus your fear and pain ), " Whom all angels serve" ( This is the night that appeared to me ), "Do not let the sinner" ( If God is for me, then step everything against me ).

The song characterizes its time as one in the dark at night, which is probably followed by the dawning day, which is also marked by the morning star mentioned three times and calls to its praise verse 1. Nevertheless, the tone remains measured. "Fear and pain" are "illuminated", not eliminated, and there is no talk of a sun or even a "sun of joy".

The stanzas 2 and 3 announce the Christmas events, the appearance of the incarnate God as “child and servant” and refer to the “stable” of the Christmas tradition.

Verse 4 takes up the motif of the wandering star of Bethlehem , which shows the way out of the darkness ( Mt 2,9  LUT ). Nevertheless, the final stanza 5 describes this darkness as a place of residence that God has chosen to be close to those in the darkness and to bring “light and salvation” into them.

Shortly before the creation of his poem, Klepper noted with regard to the discriminatory hindrances of his publications by the Reichsschrifttumskammer due to the Jewish origin of his wife:

“It happens because of Hannis. I don't believe in actions. God wants to live in darkness, and the darkness can only be pierced through prayer. "

Hymn books

The song can be found in the Evangelical Hymnal (EG 16), in the Praise of God (GL 220; GL old 111), in the Mennonite hymn book (MG 249), in the hymn book of the Evangelical Reformed Churches of German-speaking Switzerland (RG 372), in the Catholic hymnal of the German-speaking Switzerland (KG 310), in the hymn book Fieren & Loben (FL 190), in the Adventist hymn book (We praise God) (WlG 121) and in the hymn book of the Evangelical Methodist Church (EM 154). In the new hymn book of the New Apostolic Church No. 6. The song was translated into Czech by Miroslav Heryán, published since 1979 as “Noc ke konci se kloní” in the Evangelical Hymnal of the Bohemian Brothers (EK 277) and sung in the Evangelical Church of the Bohemian Brothers .

literature

  • Jochen Klepper: Kyrie. Spiritual songs ; Berlin-Steglitz: Eckart-Verlag, 1938
  • Frieder Schulz: 16 - The night has advanced . In: Gerhard Hahn , Jürgen Henkys (Hrsg.): Liederkunde zum Evangelisches Gesangbuch . No. 2 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-50321-0 , p. 11–16 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

Web links

Wikisource: Christmas carol (Jochen Klepper)  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jochen Klepper: Under the shadow of your wings . From the diaries of the years 1932–1942 ; ed. by Hildegard Klepper; Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1956; Diary entry for December 18, 1937, p. 531
  2. ↑ Jochen Klepper: Kyrie. Holy songs. Berlin, 1938, p. 26.
  3. ↑ Compare for example: Open the door
  4. ↑ Jochen Klepper: Under the shadow of your wings. From the diaries of the years 1932–1942 ; ed. by Hildegard Klepper; Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1956; Diary entry for December 7, 1937, p. 524.