In a cave in Bethlehem
In a cave in Bethlehem is a Christmas carol from the 20th century. It is contained in two editions of the Evangelical Hymn book in the regional section (Reformed Church: EG 547; Rhineland, Westphalia and Lippe: EG 547).
Emergence
The text was written by the Bremen pastor Klaus Berg ; the melody was created by Oskar Gottlieb Blarr . For the Christmas edition of the Evangelisch magazine , born in 1978, this song was created as a proposal for a modern Christmas carol. It was then premiered with the choir of the Düsseldorf Neanderkirche in Advent 1978, but was not generally known. This changed when it was published in the Christmas edition of the magazine of Evangelical Women's Aid in Germany , year 1995. The song was also translated into English and Korean.
Text and melody
The text of the first stanza refers to the historical circumstances in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus: The stable was not a building, but a "dark cave", as is also assumed in the Constantinian Church of the Nativity. The song takes up a concern of the Palestine researcher Gustav Dalman : “One should not separate the word from the place”.
The melody hints at old models, in the opening stanzas a ship is coming, loaded and in the chorus a rose has sprung .
literature
- Archive of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland (ed.): The new song in the Evangelical Hymnbook: Song poets and composers report (= working aids of the archive of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland. No. 3). Düsseldorf 1996, ISBN 3-930250-12-8 . Pp. 61, 65.