Oh head, full of blood and wounds

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O head full of blood and wounds in Bach's St. Matthew Passion

O Head full of blood and wounds is a hymn by Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676) with an - originally secular - melody by Hans Leo Haßler .

Emergence

The Protestant hymn poet Paul Gerhardt translated the Latin hymn Salve caput cruentatum into German in 1656, in the last year of his tenure as provost in Mittenwalde . In Gerhardt's time and for a long time afterwards, Bernhard von Clairvaux (around 1090–1153) was regarded as the first author of the hymn; today it is attributed to Arnulf von Löwen (1200–1250). It is the final part of a cycle of seven meditations on the limbs of the crucified Christ (see also Membra Jesu nostri ), which Gerhardt has reproduced in full under the title Oratio Rhythmica .

The melody in the Phrygian mode is a rhythmically simplified version of the love song Mein G'müt ist mich bewretre by Hans Leo Haßler (1564-1612), which appeared for the first time in 1601 in Haßler's Lustgarten new German song . As early as 1613, this melody in the songbook Harmoniae sacrae had been assigned to the text written in 1599 by Christoph Knoll (1563–1621) Herzlich geht mich sein, for a blissful ending . In Gerhardt's time it was known with this text in the Lutheran congregations.

reception

Individual stanzas of the chorale were used by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) in the St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244), whereby Bach himself made the selection and order of the stanzas used and did not leave it to his lyricist Picander (1700–1764). Bach also used his sixth stanza in the cantata Sehet! We go up to Jerusalem (BWV 159), which deals with the announcement of the Passion. The melody also appears in Bach's Christmas Oratorio to Paul Gerhardt's text How should I receive you , the first chorale in Part I (No. 5) and to Now You Are Well Smelled , the final chorus of Part VI .

The work was recorded in the Evangelical Hymn book as No. 85, in the Catholic Praise of God as No. 289 (without original verses 5 and 7) and in the Mennonite hymn book as No. 291. The song was first included in a Catholic hymn book 30 years after Gerhardt's death.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy composed a church cantata for soloists, choir and orchestra in 1830 about O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden . Further arrangements are made by Johann Pachelbel , Johann Gottfried Walther , Georg Philipp Telemann , Franz Liszt , Friedrich Silcher , Rudolph Palme , Max Reger , Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger , Johann Nepomuk David , Josef Friedrich Doppelbauer , and Rupert Gottfried Frieberger and many other composers. Organ arrangements in particular are in large numbers.

The melody was used in historical art music, among others, around 1960 by Peter, Paul & Mary with the Dave Brubeck Trio ( Because all men are brothers on the LP Summit Sessions ), in 1973 by Paul Simon for his song American Tune , in 2006 by Dieter Falk (in the album A tribute to Paul Gerhardt ) and in 2012 by the Canadian songwriter John K. Samson in his song Stop Error .

text

Text version in Johann Crüger's practice Pietatis Melica , edition 1660

1.
O head full of blood and wounds,
full of pain and scorn,
oh head, tied in mockery
with a crown of thorns,
oh head, otherwise beautifully
adorned with the highest honor and ornament,
but now highly cursed:
Greetings to me!

2.
You noble face,
otherwise
the great weight of the world will be scared and afraid of this:
how are you so spit on,
how are you so pale!
Who has your eyesight, to
which no other light is not equal,
so disgraced?

3.
The color of your cheeks and
the splendor of your red lips
are gone;
The power of pale death
has accepted everything,
has taken everything,
and that is why you are the
strength of your body.

4.
Now what you, Lord, endure
is all my burden;
it was my own fault for
what you wore.
Look here, poor man who
deserves anger.
Give me, oh my merciful,
the sight of your grace.

5.
Know me, my Guardian,
my Shepherd, accept me.
From you, source of all goods,
much good has been done to me;
your mouth fed me
with milk and sweet food,
your spirit gave me a lot of
heavenly lust.

6.
I want to stand here with you,
don't despise me;
I don't want to leave
you if your heart breaks;
when your head turns pale
in the final blow,
then I will take you
in my arms and lap.

7.
It serves for my joy
and does me heartily good
when I am to find myself in your suffering,
my salvation.
Oh my life, if I would like to give my life of myself
on your cross here
,
how good it would happen to me!

8.
I thank you from my heart,
O Jesus, dearest friend,
for the pain of your death,
since you meant it so well.
Oh grant that I will remain true
to you and your loyalty
and, when I get cold now,
my end will be in you.

9.
If I am to part one day,
do not part from me;
if I am to suffer death,
then you step forward;
when my heart
is most afraid ,
tear me out of my fears
by virtue of your fear and pain.

10.
Appear to me as a shield,
as a consolation in my death,
and let me see your image
in your distress on the cross.
I want to look after you,
I
want to press you firmly to my heart full of faith .
Who dies like this, probably dies.

translation

Catherine Winkworth translated the song in 1861 under the title Ah wounded Head! Must Thou in English.

literature

  • Elke Axmacher, Matthias Schneider: 85 - O head full of blood and wounds . In: Gerhard Hahn , Jürgen Henkys (Hrsg.): Liederkunde zum Evangelisches Gesangbuch . No. 10 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-50333-4 , pp. 40–52 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  • Marlies Lehnertz: From the High Medieval Catholic Hymn to the Baroque Evangelical Hymn. Paul Gerhardt's “O head full of blood and wounds” and its Latin model, the “Salve caput cruentatum” by Arnulf von Löwen . In: Hansjakob Becker, Reiner Kaczynski (ed.): Liturgy and poetry. An interdisciplinary compendium . Volume 1: Historical Presentation . EOS, St. Ottilien 1983, ISBN 3-88096-281-2 , ( Pietas Liturgica 1), pp. 755-773.
  • Hansjakob Becker et al .: Geistliches Wunderhorn. Great German hymns. 2nd Edition. Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-48094-2 , pp. 275-290.
  • Klaus Schneider: Lexicon "Music about Music" . Bärenreiter, Kassel 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1675-8 .

Web links

Commons : O head full of blood and wounds  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhardt's transfer of the cycle in print from 1660: No. 154–160
  2. ^ Text version of verses 1–10: EG 85
  3. ↑ GL : "crowned"
  4. ↑ GL: "cheekily mocked"
  5. ↑ GL: "And so you came"
  6. ↑ GL: "What you, Lord, endured"
  7. ↑ GL: "I, it's my fault"
  8. ↑ not in GL
  9. ↑ not in GL
  10. ↑ GL: "once"
  11. ↑ Ah wounded head! Must Thou . Hymnary.org. Retrieved July 1, 2016.