I'm standing here at your crib

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I'm standing at your crib here is a well-known evangelical and ecumenical Christmas carol .

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The original fifteen-verse text was created by the Lutheran theologian and poet Paul Gerhardt . It was published in 1653 in Johann Crüger's hymn book Praxis Pietatis Melica . The I- form takes the place of the we in most songs of the Reformation period . In Paul Gerhardt's understanding, however, this I is an exemplary self-statement of the church's faith, not a quasi-biographical self-presentation. In this song too, Gerhardt follows a piety movement in Orthodox Lutheranism, which was suggested by Johann Arndt , among others . Although the lyric I and the baby Jesus are thought of as separate persons, a kind of couple mysticism is sought, a piety that later became characteristic of pietism . She ends in this song with the wish that the lyrical self may be the manger in which Jesus lies. The text lives from contrasts such as size - smallness , poverty - wealth , whereby the apparently poor and weak child in the manger is recognized as truly powerful and rich, while the believer who meets him experiences himself as poor and empty as long as the child is not bestowed upon him and transformed.

Around the middle of the 18th century, Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf reinforced the subjective and experience-related accents of Gerhardt's text in a seven-stanza text adaptation in the sense of Pietism.

The Evangelical Hymn book from 1993 contains under No. 37 nine of Paul Gerhardt's 15 stanzas (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13 and 14) in careful textual revision, the Praise of God under No. 256 ( GL old 141 ) the stanzas 1, 3, 4 and 5. The Mennonite hymn book contains seven stanzas (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13 and 14) under the title I stand at your crib here under number 251 , Celebrate & Praise under No. 208, verses 1, 3, 4, 5, 13 and 14.

melody

First printing of Bach's Melody in 1736

The melody in the first print is "Now rejoice dear Christians". What is meant is the "calmer" melody for Nun rejoicing, dear Christians g'mein , composed by Martin Luther in 1529/1533 , which was later connected to the text It is certainly about time ( EG 149). With this melody I stand at your cribs was included in numerous older hymn books and appears with it in Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio from 1734.

1736 was Georg Christian Schemelli in Leipzig a Musicalisches Singing book out for Johann Sebastian Bach to Paul Gerhardt text an aria-like , rather in private meditation and solo singing imaginary melody in C minor composed. This melody became popular in the 18th and, above all, the 19th century and finally found its way into church services and the Protestant church hymn books. In the praise of God from 1975 the older melody was used, while in the new praise of God from 2013 the Bach melody is used; the Luther melody is referred to as an alternative.

text

I'm standing here at your crib , text version of the first printing in 1653
Original text 1653 Evangelical hymn book

1. JCh stand at your crib here /
O Infant Jesus my life /
I come / bring and give you /
What you gave me.
Now it is my spirit and sense /
Hertz / soul and courage / accept everything and
let yourself be pleased.

1. I stand here at your manger,
O Jesus, you my life;
I come, bring and give you
what you gave me.
Accept it, it is my spirit and mind,
heart, soul and courage, accept everything
and let it please you.

2. You have filled
my veins and flowers with your love /
Your beautiful glare / your sweet picture
Ligt me all in the comfort /
And how can it be different /
How can I let you / my heart /
from my heart?

3. Since I was not yet born /
You were born to me /
And you made me your own /
Before I kant / erkohren you /
Before I made it by your hand /
You have already thought
about it / How you want mine .

2. Since I was not yet born,
you were born to me
and you made me your own
before I knew you.
Before I made it by your hand,
you already thought about
how you wanted to be mine.

4. I lay in the deepest night of death /
you were my sun /
the sun / that brought me to
life / life / joy and joy.
O sun / the one that shines
The faith in me is finished /
How beautiful are your rays!

3. I lay in the deepest night of death,
you were my sun,
the sun that brought me
light, life, joy and bliss.
O sun, which inflicts the precious light
of faith in me,
how beautiful are your rays!

5. I look at you with joy /
And can't see enough of me /
And because I can't go any further /
So I do / what happens:
O that my mind would be an abyss /
And my soul a wide sea /
That I want you grasp!

4. I look at you with joy
and cannot get enough of myself;
and because I can't do anything
anymore, I stand adoring.
O that my mind would be an abyss
and my soul a wide sea
that I would like to grasp you!

6. Grant me / O Jesulein /
That I kiss your little mouth /
The mouth / that the sweet wine /
Even milk and honey rivers
far exceed in its strength /
It is full of refreshment / strength and juice /
The march and leg refreshes.

7. When does my heart cry in my body /
And can find no consolation /
Then it calls to me / I am your friend /
A redeemer for your sins:
What do you sadden my brother?
You should be good things /
I pay your debts.

5. Whenever my heart cries in the body
and cannot find any consolation,
you call out to me: “I am your friend,
a redeemer for your sins.
What do you mourn, my brother?
You should be in good spirits,
I'll pay your debts. "

8. Who is the master / who
crosses out the dignity here
the little hands / so the little child
hands me the smiling one /
the snow is light / the milk is white /
lose at your price /
when these little hands look.

9. Where do I take knowledge and understanding
to raise with praise
The little eyes / which are so steadfastly
directed towards me:
The full moon is beautiful and clear /
The golden star cluster is beautiful /
These little eyes are much more beautiful.

10. Oh that there is such a dear star
sol in the crib!
For noble children of great
men belong gold weighs.
Oh hay and straw is far too bad /
velvet / seyden / purple would be right
Dis child to put on it.

6. Oh that such a dear star
should lie in the manger! Gold cradles are essential
for noble children of great
men.
Oh, hay and straw are far too bad,
velvet, silk, purple would be right to put
this child on it!

11. Take away the straw / take away the hay /
I want to fetch me flowers /
That my Heyland's camp is
on lovely violets /
With roses / carnations / Rosemary
From beautiful gardens I want to sprinkle it
from above.

7. Take away the straw, take away the hay,
I will fetch myself flowers,
that my Savior's bed may be
on lovely violas; I will sprinkle it from above
with roses, carnations, and rosemary
from beautiful gardens
.

12. On the side, I
want to put a lot of white lilies here and there /
They should
cover his little eyes for a few Jm sleep gently:
But the dry grass loves the
child / rather than everything /
what I call and think here.

13. You do not ask about the lust of the world /
nor about the joy of the body /
you have adjusted yourself with us
to suffer in our place /
seek the glory of my soul
through misery and poverty /
I do not want to defend you.

8. You do not ask about the pleasures of the world
or the joys of the body;
you have set yourself up with us
to suffer in our place, you
seek the glory of my soul
through misery and poverty;
I don't want to fight you that.

14. But one thing I hope you wo
n't fail me / Mein Heyland / /
That I may
carry you for and for Jn / bey and on me:
So let me be your kripplein /
Come / come and put
you and all with me your joys.

9. But one thing, I hope, you will
not refuse me, my Savior:
that I may
carry you for and for in, by and on me.
So let me be your Kripplein;
come, come and lay with me
you and all your joys.

15. It is true that I should think / how little
I will entertain you /
you are the creator of all things /
I am only dust and earth: but
you are such a pious guest /
that you have never spurned him
/ it who likes to see you.

literature

Web links

Audio file / audio sample Melody ? / i

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johannes Wallmann: Church history in Germany since the Reformation. 2nd Edition. Mohr, Tübingen 1985, ISBN 3-16-144902-9 , pp. 110-113.
  2. ↑ Abbreviation written out
  3. ↑ The old dative form "Krippen" (cf. Deutsche Sprachlehre 1830 ) was retained in the EG, replaced by "Krippe" in the Gotteslob (1975 and 2013).