Morning star of the dark night
Morgenstern der dark Nacht is a spiritual poem by Johann Scheffler ( Angelus Silesius ). He first published it in 1657 in his volume of poems Heilige Seelen-Lust . With the associated melody by Georg Joseph , it is, hardly changed, included in the Praise of God under the heading Jesus Christ (No. 372).
text
shape
Scheffler's poem comprises six five-line trochaic stanzas with the rhyme scheme [aabbb]. The lines that rhyme masculine are all four-key apart with the exception of lines 3 and 4, which are shortened by half. This gives the final line, which is also repeated in the singing, the weight of a quintessence .
content
The poem is part of the collection Holy Souls Pleasure Or spiritual shepherd songs of the psyche in love with their JESUM , a religious shepherd poem . The original headline reads "May she have Jesus Christ as the true morning star in the heaven of her heart."
With the picture of the morning star , Scheffler takes up an ancient mythical - spiritual motif which, based on Rev 22.16 EU and 2 Petr 1.19 EU , is related to Jesus Christ in the Christian tradition . Scheffler explicitly interprets light and night , sky and sun as symbols of inner realities, the meaning of which exceeds the physical phenomena "a thousand times". His poem thus becomes a longing call of the soul for the mystical union with Jesus, whose “ shrine ” it would like to be. The fifth stanza in particular also suggests the Star of Bethlehem . Christmas associations are also evoked by the address "Infant Jesus" in the heading and in verses 1, 3 and 6 (original version).
Text in use today
1. Morning star of the dark night,
which makes the world full of joy,
Jesus mine,
come in,
shine in the shrine of my heart.
2. Look, your heaven is in me,
it desires you, its ornament.
Do not delay,
oh my light,
come, come before day breaks.
3.
The sun is far beyond your glory ;
you alone,
Jesus mine,
are what a thousand suns are.
4. You completely enlighten everything that
is now and comes and was;
the night becomes
full of splendor
,
because your splendor laughs at it.
5. Your ray of
joy is served everywhere;
Most beautiful star,
far and wide
you are honored as the Lord God.
6. Well, golden soul light,
come in and don't delay.
Come in,
Jesus mine,
shine in the shrine of my heart.
melody
The three-bar the Breslau composer Georg Joseph is a figured bass in the first edition . It is unusual and expressive that it begins with an ascent from the third and only reaches the tonic - after a passage in the second line - in line 3 to the words "Jesus mine". The fact that the song was originally intended for domestic musical practice is also shown by the performance designation piano above the repetition of the last line.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b on this Hermann Kurzke : I want to love you, my strength . In: Geistliches Wunderhorn. Great German hymns . Ed., Presented and explained by Hansjakob Becker u. a. Munich 2001, pp. 291-298
- ↑ a b c Original: "Jesulein"
- ↑ a b Original: "Don't delay"