Up from heaven, that's where I come from

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Strasbourg hymn book from 1541
Print from 1567

From heaven high, there I come from is a German-language Christmas carol by Martin Luther . The text was written around 1533/34 in Wittenberg and was published there in 1535, the melody was published in Leipzig in 1539 . It is one of Luther's most famous song creations.

history

Martin Luther created songs for all Christian festivals, a total of more than thirty. According to legend, he composed this famous Christmas carol in 1533 or 1534 for the Christmas presents of his own children. Originally, he laid the consisting of 15 stanzas text as spiritual contrafactum the minstrel song I kumm Auss frembden land here and kill you vil of Newen mar . The song appeared in this form in the Wittenberg Klugschen Gesangbuch from 1535. Later, Luther composed the chorale melody himself, which was first printed in 1539 and to which the song has been sung ever since. In 1555 the text was supplemented by a further, preceding stanza from the pen of Valentin Triller , pastor of Panthenau .

Johann Sebastian Bach used the melody for three chorales in his Christmas Oratorio : Oh, my dear little Jesus , Look, there lies in the dark stable , We'll sing to you in your army . The chorale melody also serves as the basis for Bach's Canonical Changes on Vom Himmel hoch . This organ work, published in print in 1748, is a typical representative of Bach's late contrapuntal style.

On Luther's melody, Paul Gerhardt's text Wir singen dir, Immanuel (in the first edition published in 1653, denotes the glorious day ) and Christian Fürchtegott Gellert's text This is the day that God made (before 1755) are sung.

content

The text of the song represents a part of the Christmas story ( Lk 2,8–18 Lut ) in the form of a nativity play with assigned roles. The Annunciation Angel  addresses the first five stanzas to the shepherds and thus pars pro toto to all believers. The other stanzas consist of the request to go to the manger with the shepherds and to pay homage to the newborn Savior in the tradition of the infant cradle.

song lyrics

An angel came bright and clear
from God into the field to the shepherds;
he was very happy from the heart
and said cheerfully to them:
Valentin Triller (1555)

"1. From the sky up, that's where I come from.
I'll bring you good new tales ,
I bring so much to the good tale,
Of which I want to sing and say.

2. A child is born to you today
from a virgin,
a child, so tender and delicate, that
should be your joy and delight.

3. It is the Lord Christ, our God,
He wants to lead you out of all trouble,
He wants to be your Savior himself, To
make clean of all sins.

4. He brings you all bliss,
which God the Father has ready, So
that you
should live with us in the kingdom of heaven now and forever.

5. So now notice the sign right:
The crib, diaper so bad,
There you find the child laid,
which all the world receives and carries.

6. Let us all rejoice.
And go in with the shepherds,
To see what God has given us,
With his dear Son worshiped.

7. Take note, my heart, and look there!
What is there in the crib?
Who is the beautiful child?
It is the dear little Jesus.

8. Be welcome, noble guest!
Have not spurned the sinner
And come here to me in misery,
How am I always to thank you?

9. Oh, Lord, you creator of all things,
how you became so small
that you lay there on dry grass, of
which a cow and donkey ate!

10. And if the world were so wide many times, of
precious stone and gold ready,
it would be much too small for you to
be a tight cradle.

11. The velvet and the silk are yours, that
is coarse hay and nappy, upon which
you, king,
leaped great and rich , as if it were your kingdom of heaven.

12. So you liked that,
to show me the truth:
How all the world might, honor and good
nothing counts before you, nothing helps nor does anything.

13. Oh, my dear little Jesus, make
yourself a pure, gentle beggar,
To rest in the shrine of my heart,
That I will never forget yours.

14. That I am always happy,
To jump, always sing freely
The right Susaninne already,
With heart's content the sweet tone.

15. Praise, honor be to God in the highest throne,
who gives us his only son.
The angels rejoice
and sing us such a new year. "

Melody variants

The melody, probably created by Luther himself and published in 1539, begins in all four lines with an eighth note. This was compensated in the baroque at the beginning of the quarter; In addition, the fifth tone of the last line (text word "and") was raised by a large second and thus adjusted to the last line of A solid castle is our God , for the first time in Johann Jeep 1629. This melodic figure is u. a. based on the arrangements by Bach and Mendelssohn and has remained predominant in Christmas music to this day. However, the Protestant church hymn book from 1950 reverted to the melody version from 1539 ? / i back (No. 16), as well as the Praise to God (1975) (No. 138), the Evangelical Hymnbook from 1993 (No. 24) and the Mennonite Hymnbook from 2004 (No. 269). Whilst, for the praise of God from 2013. The district prelude version ? / i elected (No. 237). Audio file / audio sample Audio file / audio sample

Edits

  • Some canonical changes to the Christmas carol "From heaven high, there I come here" BWV 769 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1746/47)
  • Vom Himmel hoch , cantata by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1831)
  • Christmas overture for choir and orchestra on the chorale "Vom Himmel hoch" by Otto Nicolai (1833)
  • From heaven high (This is the day God made) . In: Choral Improvisations for Organ, Op. 65 No. 10 by Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1906-08)
  • From the sky up, that's where I come from . In: Thirty small chorale preludes to the most common chorales, Op. 135a by Max Reger (1914)
  • Choral variations on the Christmas carol "Vom Himmel hoch, there I come here" for choir and orchestra after JS Bach by Igor Stravinsky (1955/56)
  • Canonical meditation on the Lutheran chorale "Vom Himmel hoch, there I come here" for choir (SSATBB) by Johannes X. Schachtner (2015)

Translations

Translated into Danish: "Fra Himlen højt kom budskab her med nyt til alle fjern og nær ..." 1542/1544 (combined with a translation of "From heaven came the angels ..."), 1569 and 1845; in the version from 1845 after Kolderup-Rosenvinge (Janus Lauritz Andreas Kolderup-Rosenvinge, 1792 - 1850; Dr. jur., Prof. in Copenhagen) with 10 stanzas in the Danish church hymn book Den danske Salmebog , Copenhagen 1953, no.79 (as in the German hymn book tradition followed by No. 80 "Fra Himlen kom engelklar, for hyrders øjne åbenbar ...", translated by Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig in 1837, edited in 1889, based on Luther's "From Heaven came the angels ..."; plus a translation by Hans Tausen 1544 and in Hans Tausen's hymn book, En Ny Psalmebog , 1553; also in Hans Thomissøn's hymn book, 1569). - Nos. 79 and 80 from 1953 taken over in Den Danske Salme Bog , Copenhagen 1993, and in Den Danske Salmebog , Copenhagen 2002, nos. 95 and 96.

literature

Web links

Commons : From heaven high, this is where I come from  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frauke Schmitz-Gropengiesser: From heaven high, there I come here (2011). In: Popular and Traditional Songs. Historical-critical song lexicon of the German Folk Song Archive
  2. ↑ Ansgar Franz, Christa Reich : 24 - From heaven high, there I come . In: Gerhard Hahn , Jürgen Henkys (Hrsg.): Liederkunde zum Evangelisches Gesangbuch . No. 12 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-525-50335-0 , p. 16–24 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ a b Wilhelm Lucke: Singing ways - 29. From heaven high… . In: D. Martin Luther's works. Critical Complete Edition , Volume 35. Weimar 1923, p. 524 f. ( Text archive - Internet Archive ).
  4. ↑ Martin Luther: Geistliche Lieder auffs new better zu Wittemberg. Joseph Klug, Wittenberg 1535, fol. 4v ff. ( G 842 in VD 16 .; Digitized ).
  5. ↑ Pietatis Melica practice . Runge, Berlin 1653, p. 186 f. ( Digitized version ).
  6. ↑ 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.