Praise God, all Christians alike

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Nikolaus Herman: Praise God, you Christians all alike , 1561

Praise God, ye Christians all the same is a hymn for Christmas , whose lyrics and melody of Nicholas Herman (to 1480-1561) and which have been published in the 1550s for the first time.

Lore history

The first publication of the full text is traditionally dated to the year 1560, when it was printed together with the melody in Wittenberg. The melody had previously been published in 1554 with a different text Come here, you dear little sister . An unfinished and misprinted early version of the text and melody can be traced back to 1550 on a song sheet Drey spiritual Weyhnacht / lieder, from the Newborn kindlin Jesu / for the children in Joachimstal .

The Christmas Introit Puer natus est nobis in Gregorian square notation . Choral book from the Poor Clare Monastery in Bamberg (created around 1500).

Since the beginning of the 17th century, the first line has also been sung in the variant Praise God, you Christians, all at once . This is usually also the heading for organ arrangements from this period.

The originally eight-stanza Christmas carol was recorded in a six-stanza version (1.2.3.6.7.8) in the Evangelical Hymnbook (No. 27), in a four-stanza version (1.2.3.8) in the Catholic praise of God (GL 247; GL old 134) and in a six- stanza version in the Mennonite hymn book (MG 262).

Text content and melody

The theme of the text is the condescendence of God in the incarnation of the Son and the deification of man redeemed from sin - the " happy change ". The text has been translated into several languages.

The melody ? / i shows echoes of spiritual mountain ranges . Herman used the melody of a Midsummer dance, to which he gave the rhythm of an allemande . Audio file / audio sample

The Gregorian introit antiphon "Puer natus est" in the Tetrardus authenticus

But the sage also shows a clear relationship with the Gregorian introitus - antiphon Puer natus est nobis ( A child is born to us ), which is composed in the seventh tone of the church .

The melody, rhythmically pushing forward through tone repetitions, was musically arranged in many ways, especially in the Baroque period.

Text example

Praise God, you Christians, at the same time
in his highest throne,
who today closes his kingdom of heaven
and gives us his son,
and gives us his son.

He comes out of his father's bosom
and becomes a child;
he lies there miserably, naked and bare
in a crib,
in a crib.

Today he closes the door
to the beautiful parade again,
the cherub no longer stands for it.
Praise, honor and praise be to God!
Praise, honor and praise be to God!

Translations

Translated into Danish, "Nu vil vi sjunge og være glad ...", first by Hans Christensen Sthen in 1578, newly translated in 1848 by Carl Joachim Brandt, edited in 1885 and included in the Danish hymnbook for Sønderjylland in 1925. The Brandt version then appeared in Danish Church hymn book , Den Danske Salmebog , Copenhagen 1953, No. 91, copied from Den Danske Salmebog , Copenhagen 2002, No. 110. Also in the hymn book of the Danish Folk Higher Education Movement , Højskolesangbogen , 18th edition, Copenhagen 2006, No. 221 (melody by Thomas Laub , 1881).

literature

Web links

Commons : Praise God, Christians all alike  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Video

Individual evidence

  1. a b Theo Mang, Sunhilt Mang (ed.): Der Liederquell . Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2007, ISBN 978-3-7959-0850-8 , pp. 1014-1015 .
  2. Joachim Stalmann: 27 - Praise God, you Christians all alike . In: Gerhard Hahn , Jürgen Henkys (Hrsg.): Liederkunde zum Evangelisches Gesangbuch . No. 13 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-50337-9 , pp. 16–22 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ^ Gerhard Heilfurth : The Bergmannslied. Kassel 1954, p. 62 f. Quoted from: Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann : The book of Christmas carols. Schott, Mainz 1982, ISBN 3-7957-2061-3 , p. 107.
  4. ^ Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann : The book of Christmas carols. Schott, Mainz 1982, ISBN 3-7957-2061-3 , p. 106 f.
  5. Markus Bautsch: On Contrafactures of Gregorian Repertoire - Puer natus est , accessed on December 3, 2014
  6. Walter Götze: Our Christmas carols for guitar alone. B. Schott's Sons, Mainz 1958, p. 16 f.
  7. Cf. Otto Holzapfel : Lied index: The older German-language popular song tradition ( online version on the Volksmusikarchiv homepage of the Upper Bavaria district ; in PDF format; ongoing updates) with further information.