O you happy
O du cheerful is one of the most famous German-language Christmas carols . Its melody is based on a Sicilian folk tune . The poet of the first of three stanzas is the Weimar " orphan father " Johannes Daniel Falk (1768–1826), the following two were rewritten by Heinrich Holzschuher (1798–1847) from Wunsiedel in their form in use today.
History of origin
After Johannes Daniel Falk lost four of his seven children to a typhoid epidemic , he founded the “ rescue house for neglected children” in Weimar . In 1815 he probably dedicated the O du Merry Christmas song, now known as the Christmas carol, to the children who were taken in there .
Falk used the melody of a Marian song , which is sung to the text O sanctissima, o purissima (piissima), dulcis virgo Maria in Sicily . Falk probably found this song in the second edition, published posthumously in 1807, of Johann Gottfried Herder's (1744–1803) collection Voices of the Nations in Songs . Until a few years ago it was assumed that Herder recorded the song himself while on a trip to Italy. However, Barbara Boock from the German Folk Song Archive in Freiburg discovered in 2003 that there was no corresponding record in Herder's estate. Rather, the song was published as Sicilian mariner's hymn to the virgin in the European Magazine and London Review in 1792 . Since the melody matches exactly, and Herder could have known the magazine from the Weimar court library , it can be assumed with a high degree of probability that this print was Herder's model. The characterization of the original as a “ hymn ” raises questions as to whether the translation “Schifferlied” (probably by Herder) is accurate, especially since the Latin text suggests a hymn .
In its original version, the song was a so-called “Allreifiertagslied” by Falk, in which the salvation deeds underlying the three main festivals of Christianity - Christmas , Easter and Pentecost - were sung.
O happy, blessed,
gracious Christmas season!
World was lost, Christian is born:
rejoice, rejoice, Christianity!
O happy, happy,
gracious Easter!
World is in bonds, Christian has risen:
rejoice, rejoice, Christianity!
O you joyous, o you blessed,
gracious Pentecost time!
Christ our Master, sanctify the spirits:
rejoice, rejoice, Christianity!
The song was published in 1816. As recently as the 20th century, it was assumed that it was first published in Falk's Auserlesene Werke, published in 1819 . Günter Balders then discovered a brochure in the library of the Free Church University of Applied Sciences in Elstal , which documents a publication already after Christmas 1816. The first printing is in the second report of Falk's social welfare association, "Society of Friends in Need", completed on January 30, 1817 . Here is a list of songs, "which every pupil the Sunday school know by heart and sing must".
Today's text
However, O durohliche did not become known as the “Allerdreifesttagslied”, but as a Christmas hymn, in which only the first stanza is literally by Johannes Daniel Falk. The other two Christmas stanzas were composed by Heinrich Holzschuher, one of Falk's assistants, for a lecture piece “for the Feyer of the Holy Christmas Festival”, and the song was rededicated as a pure Christmas carol. This text was first printed anonymously in the Bayerschen Landbote at Christmas 1826 . In 1829 Holzschuher published it again in his volume Harfenklänge , thereby identifying himself as the author, but also mentions Falk as the author of the first stanza.
In its current form (sometimes with regional differences in the text) the song reads:
O you happy, O you blessed,
gracious Christmas season!
World was lost, Christian is born:
Rejoice, rejoice, O Christianity!
O you happy, O you blessed,
gracious Christmas season!
Christian has appeared to atone for us:
Rejoice, rejoice, O Christianity!
O you happy, O you blessed,
gracious Christmas season!
Heavenly armies shout for honor:
Rejoice, rejoice, O Christianity!
This Christmas carol, composed by Falk and Holzschuher, has been translated into many languages, including English ( Oh how joyfully ), French, Latin and Swedish ( O du saliga, o du heliga , 1859).
Hymn books
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For example, the song found its way into the German Evangelical Hymnbook (EG 44) (after it had not been included in the root section of its predecessor, the Evangelical Church Hymnal), in the Roman Catholic Praise of God (GL 238) (it was already in many diocesan appendices of the Edition from 1975 included), in the old Catholic hymn book " Tuned" (332), in the free church celebration & praise (F&L 220), in the Mennonite hymn book (MG 264), in the Evangelical Methodist hymn book (EmG 174) and in the German-language edition of the New Apostolic hymn book (23). In many Protestant churches in Germany, the song is traditionally sung on Christmas Eve at the end of Christmas Vespers . Sometimes the full bells of the church can be heard. It was also included in the Evangelical Hymnal (Evangelický zpěvník, EZ 299) of the Evangelical Church of the Bohemian Brethren in the Czech Republic.
Variant as Luther hymn
Allegedly two days before his death, Johannes Daniel Falk is said to have asked his friends to distribute a “Volksbüchlein”, which was published posthumously by Reclam in Leipzig as Falk's song collection in 1830. The foreword by Karl Reinthaler , friend of Falks and head of the Martinsstift in Erfurt, shows that Reinthaler was the actual editor. The book contains six more stanzas from O du cheerful, spread over many pages . Four of them are dedicated to the “gracious Martins time”, two to Katharina von Bora . Examples:
O you happy,
O you blessed,
gracious time of St. Martin!
Bahn was lost;
Light is born:
rejoice, rejoice Christianity!
To Katharina von Bora:
O you happy,
O you blessed,
welcomed noble maid , Luther by your
side,
Be you today too,
Bora, a friendly greeting!
It is unclear whether the six stanzas actually go back to Falk, or were written by Reinthaler, perhaps also by Heinrich Holzschuher.
melody
literature
- Gerhard Blail: O you happy. The story of our most beautiful Christmas carols. Quell, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-7918-2801-0 , pp. 62-73.
- Franz Xaver Erni, Heinz Alexander Erni: Silent Night, Holy Night. The most beautiful Christmas carols. Herder, Freiburg 2002, ISBN 3-451-27367-5 , pp. 95-98.
- Ulrich Parent, Martin Rößler : 44 - O you happy . In: Gerhard Hahn , Jürgen Henkys (Hrsg.): Liederkunde zum Evangelisches Gesangbuch . No. 4 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2002, ISBN 3-525-50325-3 , pp. 26–30 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
Web links
- O you happy in the song project of Carus-Verlag and SWR2
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christmas carol "Oh you cheerful" apparently older than previously thought. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
- ↑ To the Virgin Mary. A Sicilian boatman's song. In: Johann Gottfried Herder: Voices of the peoples in songs. Edited by Johann von Müller (= Johann Gottfried von Herder's entire works. Eighth part). Cotta, Tübingen 1807, p. 175 f. ( Digitized in the Google book search).
- ↑ Michael Karger: Searching for a hostel in the spirit of following Christ. In: Die Tagespost of December 24, 2009, p. 6.
- ↑ a b Barbara Boock: Lecture on November 18, 2003 at SWR, Freiburg. Quoted from: Theo Mang, Sunhilt Mang (Ed.): Der Liederquell . Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2007, ISBN 978-3-7959-0850-8 , pp. 1019 f .
- ^ The European Magazine and London Review Vol. 22 (Jul. – Dec. 1792), November 1792, pp. 385 f. ( Digitized version ).
- ↑ Christa Holtei , Tilman Michalski : The large family book of Christmas carols. Sauerländer, Düsseldorf 2008, ISBN 978-3-7941-7629-8 , p. 48 f.
- ↑ Johannes Daniel Falk: Society of Friends in Need for the Year 18 […]: Zweyter report . 1816, urn : nbn: de: gbv: 32-1-10012690596 .
- ↑ Digital full text edition in Wikisource
- ↑ The children at the manger, for the celebration of the holy Christmas festival. In: Der Bayersche Landbote , December 23 and 26, 1826, pp. 699–700 and 707 ( digitized in the Google book search).
- ^ Heinrich Holzschuher: Harp sounds. A friendly song-giving for mind and spirit. Martins-Stift, Erfurt 1829, p. XIV; 66 ( digitized (incorrectly digitized) in the Google book search).
- ↑ Hymnal of the New Apostolic Church - Numerical Directory. In: nak-gesangbuch.de. David de la Croes, accessed December 16, 2014 .
- ↑ Evangnet: Píseň EZ 299 - Ó ty radostný čase vánoční , accessed on November 12, 2016
- ↑ Dr. Martin Luther and the Reformation in folk songs by Johannes Falk. For the good of the own orphans of the blessed father of poor children. Leipzig 1830 ( digitized ).