We plow and we spread
We Plow the Fields and Scatter (originally The Peasant Song ) is a now a hymn known seal of Matthias Claudius and especially for Thanksgiving used.
Origin and history
Paul Erdmann's festival
The text first appeared in 1783 as part of an article by Claudius in the fourth volume of ASMUS omnia sua SECUM portans, or all of the works by Wandsbeck Bothen . The article describes a fictional harvest festival in the country under the title Paul Erdmanns Fest . In it Claudius contrasts the somewhat arrogant noble lords with the human nobility of the farm workers. As the highlight of the festival, the farmer's spokesman asks the gentleman if they can sing their farmer's song. This is designed as an alternating song between the lead singer, to whom Claudius gives the name Hans Westen , and the choir “all farmers”. In the end everyone toast the landlord.
The farmer's song differs from the form of the song that is widespread today in that it starts differently - the original beginning relates to 1 Mos 1,2 LUT -, is considerably longer with a total of 16 four-line stanzas and the refrain is slightly different.
The lead singer. Hans West
“In the beginning it was
only dark, desolate, and empty on earth ;
And
if something should be and become, it has to come from somewhere else. "
Coro. All farmers
"All good gifts
Came above, from God,
From the beautiful blue sky!"
Claudius added his own melody to the song.
On the way to the hymnal
Johann André gave the song a first new melody and selected eight of the stanzas that were sung with his melody in many Protestant and Roman Catholic schools in the 19th century. About ten different melodies can still be found in the 19th century - proof of the wide popularity that the song achieved in a short time.
The melody used today is generally regarded as a work by Johann Abraham Peter Schulz and first appeared in Hanover in 1800 in the second edition of a collection of melodies for elementary schools . In it, the eight stanzas 3–10 of the original by Claudius are combined into four double stanzas without changing their order. Only the chorus was changed a bit.
The song also appeared for the first time in official Protestant hymn books at the turn of the 19th century, for example in Oldenburg in 1791 and in Königsberg and Bremen in 1812.
The way into the hymnbook was not without controversy, however , the song is not in the main part of the Protestant church hymnbook from 1950 ff, but only in a few regional appendices, in the edition for Lower Saxony in the section spiritual children's songs . Today the song is widely accepted and widespread in the Protestant Church. In the Evangelical Hymn of 1995 it was assigned to the Nature and Seasons section (No. 508); It is also in the hymn book of the Reformed Churches of German-speaking Switzerland under no.540, in the Mennonite hymn book from 2004 under the rubric Praise of Creation and Thanksgiving under no.457, in the hymn book of the Evangelical Methodist Church from 2002 and since 1983 in the hymn book Wir praise God or since 2016 in his successor songbook believe - hope - sing of the Seventh-day Adventists included. However, it is not included in the Roman Catholic praise of God . The Methodist hymn book and the regional edition West of the Evangelical hymn book contain references to the original beginning.
Lyrics of the song
“In the beginning it was dark, desolate and empty on earth;
and if something should be and become, it has to come from somewhere else.
So it happened in the beginning when God spoke;
and how it started, so it goes this day.
Refrain:
All good gifts come from the Lord God,
so thank him, thank him , therefore thank him, thank him
and hope for him.
We plow, and we scatter the seeds on the land,
but growth and prosperity is in the hands of heaven:
it
wafts gently and secretly, and when we go home it drips on growth and prosperity
Refrain
He sends dew and rain and sun and moonlight
and wraps his blessing very delicately and artificially
and then brings it nimbly into our field and bread
it goes through our hands, but comes from God.
Refrain
What is near and what is far, everything comes from God,
the straw and the stars, the grain of sand and the sea.
From him are bushes and leaves and grain and fruit. From him are
the beautiful spring weather and snow and impetus.
Refrain
He lets the sun rise, he sets the course of the moon;
he makes the winds blow and opens the clouds.
He gives us so much joy, he makes us fresh and red;
he gives pasture to the cows and bread to his children.
Refrain"
Translations
The song was translated into English by Jane Montgomery Campbell in 1861 . She created a three-verse version. With a sentence by John Bacchus Dykes , this version quickly found its way into hymn books of various denominations in the English-speaking world; today it is one of the most famous Thanksgiving songs. Schulz's melody, which is most common in German, has been retained in the English versions.
Translated into Danish "Vi pløjed og vi så'de vor sæd i sorten jord ..." by Jakob Christian Lindberg Knudsen (1858 - 1917, pastor in Mellerup), 1891, and included in the church hymn book Den danske Salmebog , Copenhagen 1953, No. 678, and in Den danske Salmebog , Copenhagen 2002, No. 730; also in the hymn book of the Folk High School Movement, Højskolesangbogen , 18th edition, Copenhagen 2006, No. 339.
literature
- Reinhard Görisch: 508 - We plow and we spread . In: Gerhard Hahn , Jürgen Henkys (Hrsg.): Liederkunde zum Evangelisches Gesangbuch . No. 9 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-50332-6 , pp. 43–47 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- Herbert Rowland: Matthias Claudius's Paul Erdmanns Fest and the Utopian Tradition. In: Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies , Vol. XVIII, No. 1, February 1982, pp. 14-26.
Web links
- Song on gesangbuch-online.de
- English version with references at hymnary.org
Individual evidence
- ↑ DIRECTORY - believe - hope - sing: the new songbook of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Germany and German-speaking Switzerland. Retrieved October 7, 2018 .
- ↑ 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.