God of heaven and earth

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God of Heaven and Earth , first printed in 1642, text, melody and choral setting by Heinrich Albert

God of heaven and earth is an Evangelical Lutheran hymn . Heinrich Albert wrote the text and melody in 1642.

First printing

Heinrich Albert was the organist at Königsberg Cathedral for 20 years . He played a diverse role in the city's musical life and composed sacred and secular arias (art songs) and choral movements, which he wrote in the multi-part work ARJEN or MELODEYEN, some partly clergy, partly secular, songs of devotion, good morals, chaste love and honorable pleasure - Published by law on different ways of singing and playing . The fifth part, No. 4, contains the first edition of God of Heaven and Earth in a polyphonic choral setting with all seven text stanzas and the author's statement by Heinrich Albert .

reception

The theologian and hymnologist Karl Johann Cosack wrote in 1861: “For two hundred years, even a single day may hardly have greeted the earth that was not met back and forth in German lands with Alberti's song. ... Without examination one can assure that it has not been missing in any evangelical hymn book since the beginning of the last century. "

shape

The Strophic comprises six trochaic lines in bar form , in Situated Sang eight alternately and siebensilbig, in Abgesang siebensilbig.

content

The song is a morning prayer. The address to the triune God (verse 1) is followed by thanks for the preservation in the night (verse 2), the request for guidance through the day according to God's word and without sin (verses 3–5), the self-surrender to God (verse 6) and the request for the guardian angel to accompany him to “rest” in heaven (verse 7). The train of thought follows, partly literally, Luther's morning blessing , with the middle section in particular containing independent motifs (appeal to the wounds of Jesus, view of the Last Judgment).

text

Lyrics
( Evangelical Hymnal 445)

Luther's Morning Blessing
(Evangelical Hymnbook)

1. God of heaven and earth,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
who lets the
sun and moon shine day and night ,
whose strong hand holds the world
and what is inside:

2. God, I thank you From the heart
that you
protected me from danger, fear, misery and pain that night
and guarded me
that the evil enemy cunning was
not mine.

3. Let the night of my sins also
pass away with this night;
o Lord Jesus, let me find
your wounds standing open,
there alone is help and advice
for my iniquity.

4. Help that I
may be spiritually resurrected this morning
and take care of my soul so
that when your great day
appears to us and your judgment,
I will not be frightened of it.

5. Guide me, O Lord, and guide me
according to Your word;
be and remain
my protector and refuge today .
Nowhere but by you alone
can I be properly preserved.

6. My body and my soul
including my senses and intellect,
great God, I command you
under your strong hand.
Lord, my shield, my honor, my glory,
receive me, your property.

7. Send your angel to me,
who
will turn the evil enemy's power, cunning and attack from me
and keep me in good care,
who will finally
carry me to rest to heaven.

May God the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit rule ! Amen.





I thank you, my heavenly Father,
through Jesus Christ, your dear Son,
that you
have protected me from all harm and danger this night ,



and I ask you that
you will also protect me this day
from sins and all evil




that you have all mine Do and please live.













Because I command myself,
my body and soul
and everything in your hands.




Your holy angel be with me
that the evil enemy may
find no power in me.

melody

melody

The cantable melody, which mainly moves in steps of one second , is in triple time , which results in frequent two-tone melisms . The version sung again since Otto Riethmüller ( A New Song , 1932) is the original. Previously there had been simplified variants in three-time ( German Evangelical Hymnbook and older) and even in four-time. Johann Crüger had composed his own melody for the Pietatis Melica practice in 1666, but it did not catch on.

Heinrich Albert's melody was also used for other texts, such as Johann Franck's Christmas carol Ihr Gestirn, her high skies . With the last verse of the song "While such Herzensstube is" met them (in duple version) in the Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach as a final chorale of the fifth part.

Web links

Commons : God of Heaven and Earth  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ First printing
  2. ↑ quoted by Eduard Emil Koch : History of the hymn and hymn of the Christian, especially the German Protestant church . Volume 8 , p. 186
  3. ↑ a b Koch p. 188
  4. ↑ Crüger, Johan: Praxis Pietatis Melica: This is: Exercise of godliness in Christian and consoling chants / Mr. D. Martin Lutheri fornemlich / as well as other of his faithful followers / and pure Evangelical teaching confessors: Neatly brought together / and about previous editions ... increased by new ones / and the voices / according to the Manuscripto des Auctoris Blessed / overlooked and improved . Editio XII = 12th edition. Runge, Berlin 1666, p. 26 ( staatsbibliothek-berlin.de - digitized version ).
  5. ↑ Francis Browne, Aryeh Oron: Chorale Text used in Bach's Vocal Works: Ihr Gestirn, ihr Höhe Lüften - Text and Translation. In: Bach-Cantatas.com. October 26, 2018 .;
  6. ↑ Johann Sebastian Bach: Christmas Oratorio . Piano reduction (Gustav Rösler). C. F. Peters, Leipzig, p. 132 ( imslp.org [PDF; 9.5 MB ] In it: No. 53, Choral: It is true that this is the heart room ).