Showing posts with label Johann Crüger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Johann Crüger. Show all posts

Saturday, April 4, 2015

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

The Crowning With Thorns (Jan Janssens, ca 1647)


And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and began to salute him,
Hail, King of the Jews!
And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. ~ Mark 15:17-19



Though we can hardly comprehend it, the physical agony entailed in Jesus' crucifixion is something of which we've all heard much discussion and seen many depictions. And we've probably often pondered the inconceivable weight of all human sin that Christ took upon Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane, so crushing that He sweat blood (Luke 22:44).

But an overlooked dimension of Christ's Passion may be His humiliation. It is somehow especially heartbreaking that the most innocent and loving being ever to walk the earth, the glorious and praiseworthy Creator and Savior of the world, should--alone and helpless--be savagely mocked, ridiculed, and slapped around by the very people for whom He was laying down his life. That humiliation is symbolized by the purple robe and, especially, by the Crown of Thorns that was pressed into His head as the mockers pretended to hail Him King of the Jews. When we see these, we should remember that through OUR sins we were there, heaping scorn upon our Savior with the rest of them.  And yet we know that our souls were saved through that very suffering our sins brought upon Him.

A hymn that conveys this message most movingly is O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.

THE TEXT

Bernard of Clairvaux
This hymn is based on a long medieval Latin poem, Salve mundi salutare, with stanzas addressing the various parts of Christ's body hanging on the Cross. The last part of the poem, on which the hymn is based, focuses on Christ's head. Historically, the poem has been attributed to French Cistercian monk and scholar Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153).  Bernard was a man of exceptional piety and spiritual power, a confidant of Popes and a preacher to the King of France. Martin Luther, 400 years after Bernard's death, called him “the best monk that ever lived, whom I admire beyond all the rest put together.” Nevertheless, Salve mundi salutare is now widely credited to medieval poet Arnulf of Leuven (c.1200–1250), abbot of the Cistercian abbey at Viller-la-Ville, Belgium, about whom little else is known.

Paul Gerhardt
J.W. Alexander
But how did the final part of Salve mundi salutare become a hymn text?  That process began with its translation into German in 1656, by prolific Lutheran hymnist Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676). The German hymn begins, "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" ("O Head full of blood and wounds"). The poem was first translated into English in 1752 by John Gambold (1711-1771), an Anglican vicar in Oxfordshire, England. His translation begins, "O Head so full of bruises." In 1830 a new English translation of the hymn was made by an American Presbyterian minister, James Waddel Alexander (1804-1859). This translation, beginning "O sacred head, now wounded," became one of the most widely used in 19th and 20th century hymnals. Another English translation, based on the German, was made in 1861 by English hymnist Sir Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877). Published in Hymns Ancient and Modern, it begins, "O sacred head surrounded by crown of piercing thorn."  In 1899 English poet Robert Bridges (1844-1930) made a fresh translation from the original Latin, beginning "O sacred Head, sore wounded, defiled and put to scorn." This version is used in the Church of England's New English Hymnal (1986) and several other late 20th-century hymn books.

Few modern hymnbooks contain all of the stanzas that have been associated with O Sacred Head in one or another version, though stanzas 1, 4, and 8 below appear in the vast majority. The following are the stanzas set forth in J.W. Alexander's 1830 version:

O sacred head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thine only crown;
O sacred head, what glory!
What bliss, till now was Thine!
Yet, though despised and gory,
I joy to call Thee mine.

O noblest brow, and dearest!
In other days the world
All feared, when Thou appeared’st,
What shame on Thee is hurled!
How art Thou pale with anguish,
With sore abuse and scorn;
How does that visage anguish,
When once was bright as morn.

The blushes late residing
Upon that holy cheek,
The roses once abiding
Upon those lips so meek,
Alas! they have departed;
Wan Death has rifled all!
For weak and broken hearted,
I see Thy body fall.

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered,
Was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression,
But Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor,
Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

Receive me, my Redeemer,
My Shepherd, make me Thine;
Of every good the fountain,
Thou art the spring of mine.
Thy lips with love distilling,
And milk of truth sincere,
With Heaven’s bliss are filling
The soul that trembles here.

Beside Thee, Lord, I’ve taken
My place—forbid me not!
Hence will I ne’er be shaken,
Though Thou to death be brought,
If pain’s last paleness hold Thee,
In agony oppressed,
Then, then will I enfold Thee
Within this arm and breast!

The joy can ne’er be spoken,
Above all joys beside;
When in Thy body broken
I thus with safety hide.
My Lord of life, desiring
Thy glory now to see,
Beside the cross expiring,
I’d breathe my soul to Thee.

What language shall I borrow,
To thank Thee, dearest friend,
For this, Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
Oh! make me Thine forever,
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
Outlive my love to Thee.

And when I am departing,
Oh! part not Thou from me;
When mortal pangs are darting,
Come, Lord, and set me free;
And when my heart must languish
Amidst the final throe,
Release me from mine anguish,
By Thine own pain and woe!

Be near me when I am dying,
Oh! show Thy cross to me;
And for my succor flying,
Come, Lord, and set me free!
These eyes new faith receiving,
From Jesus shall not move,
For he who dies believing,
Dies safely through Thy love.

THE MUSIC

Hans Leo Hassler
Johann Crüger
The music universally accompanying both German and English versions of O Sacred Head was composed around 1600 by German composer and organist Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) for a secular love song, "Mein G'müt ist mir verwirret" ("My heart is distracted by a gentle maid"), and first appeared in print in 1601. The tune was adapted and simplified for Gerhardt's hymn in 1656 by German composer Johann Crüger (1598-1662), who published it that year in his Praxis Pietatis MelicaJohann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) later arranged the melody and used five stanzas of the hymn in his St. Matthew Passion, which was first performed on Good Friday (April 11) 1727. Bach used the melody with different words in his Christmas Oratorio, both in the first choral and the triumphant final chorus.



LEGACY OF, AND REFLECTIONS ON, THE HYMN

Christ’s Head with Crown of Thorns
(Cranach the Elder, c.1520-25)

O Sacred Head has enjoyed great popularity since 1656. The hymn appears in all modern hymnals, in many languages and translations, and with various numbers of stanzas. Owing to its origins with Bernard of Clairvaux (or Arnulf of Leuven), it is closely associated with the Cistercian order.

An intensely personal hymn, O Sacred Head describes vividly the pain and shame that Jesus endured when He paid the terrible price for our sin on the Cross. The poet acknowledges our guilt for that suffering, prostrating himself in remorse yet celebrating the miraculous grace that washes us clean in Christ's blood. The later stanzas express our fervent desire always to be close and faithful to our Savior, in this life and the blessed one to come. Despite the stately pace and mournful key of the music, the message is ultimately one of boundless gratitude and joyful devotion.


HEAR IT PERFORMED

There are many fine choral arrangements of O Sacred Head available for enjoyment.  Here is a lovely traditional one performed by the Altar of Praise Chorale:



Another, very heartfelt solo performance is this one by American Christian singer-songwriter Michael Card, accompanied by moving images of our Lord's passion:



Here are four chorale settings in German of O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden from Bach's St. Matthew Passion, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe:



* * * * *
Every day and in all we say and do, we should be deeply mindful of what our Savior endured to purchase our souls from death and earn for us eternal life, while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). The Crown of Thorns, made to be an instrument of pain and humiliation, has been replaced with the
Crown of Glory. Let this be a symbol, too, of our passage from degradation to glory with Christ and our Heavenly Father.


And when the chief Shepherd shall appear,
ye shall receive a crown of glory
that fadeth not away. ~ 1 Peter 5:4

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Now Thank We All Our God

The Angelus, by Jean Francois Millet (1859)

One of the great miracles of sincere faith in God is that thanks may be given to Him even amidst the deepest suffering. The Bible tells us that we should "[i]n every thing give thanks" (1 Thess. 5:18), and "[give] thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 5:20). Indeed, we should "[c]ount it all joy" when we encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance (James 1:2-3). Even Job, the archetype of sufferers, could humbly declare: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21)

Some of Christendom's most moving hymns of thanksgiving have been born of personal tragedy, prominent among them Horatio Spafford's It is Well WIth My Soul.  Communal suffering, arising from such calamities as war and pestilence, has likewise and improbably inspired great treasures of choral thanksgiving. One of the foremost is the beloved German hymn "Nun danket alle Gott", known in English as Now Thank We All Our God

The text was written by Lutheran minister Martin Rinkart (1586-1649) in or about 1636, in Eilenburg, Saxony (a province of Germany). At that time and place was raging the Thirty Years' War, among the bloodiest and most destructive conflicts in European history--and one of the longest, dragging on from 1618 to 1648. Initially a war between Protestant and Catholic states in the fragmenting Holy Roman Empire, it gradually developed into a more general conflict involving most of the great powers of Europe. This war devastated and depopulated whole regions of the German and Italian states, the Kingdom of Bohemia, and the Low Countries. The war also bankrupted most of the combatant powers. Hordes of mercenary troops looted property, extorted tribute, and murdered common people by the thousands. The displacement of civilian populations and the overcrowding of refugees into cities led to famine and the spread of dread diseases such as typhusdysentery, and bubonic plague.

Caught in this maelstrom was Eilenburg, where Martin Rinkart was born into a poor coppersmith's family on April 23, 1586. Despite his humble origins he became a boy chorister in the famous Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church) of Leipzig, where Johann Sebastian Bach was later musical director and is buried. Rinkart studied at the University of Leipzig and was ordained to the Lutheran Church ministry. At the age of 31, he became a pastor in his native town.

Eilenburg, Germany today
Rinkart arrived there just as the chaos of the Thirty Years' War was starting. The steady stream of refugees pouring through the gates of this walled city brought famine and disease in its wake. The Rinkart home served as a refuge for the afflicted victims, even though Martin often had trouble providing food and clothing for his own family. Eilenberg was also overrun by invading armies, once by the Austrian army and twice by the Swedish army. As the latter surrounded the city, nearly a thousand homes were destroyed, and the death toll soared. The handful of pastors remaining in the town had to conduct dozens of funerals daily. Finally, the pastors also succumbed, and Martin Rinkart was the only one left. At the height of the great plague in 1637, he conducted as many as 50 funerals in a day, and more than 4000 funerals in that year, including his wife's. By the end of the year, the refugees had to be buried in trenches without services.

Soldiers Plundering a Farm During the Thirty Years' War, by Sebastian Vrancx (1620)

The story is told that when the Swedes demanded a huge ransom, Rinkart left the safety of Eilenburg's walls to plead for mercy. At first the the Swedish commander refused, so the pastor turned to his humble flock and said, "Come, my children, we can find no mercy with man; let us take refuge with God."  Rinkart knelt and led his parishioners in prayer, and in the singing of a familiar hymn. The Swedish commander was so impressed by his faith and courage that he lowered the ransom demand. (Kenneth W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories (Kregel Publications, 1982), p. 174).

THE TEXT

Despite all the horrors he had witnessed, and all he had lost among family and friends, Martin Rinkart was still able to declare joyfully, "Nun danket alle Gott."  This text is said to have been inspired by a passage in the Apocryphal book Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 50:22-24 ("And now bless the God of all, who in every way does great things; who exalts our days from birth, and deals with us according to his mercy. May he give us gladness of heart, and grant that peace may be in our days in Israel, as in the days of old. May he entrust to us his mercy! And let him deliver us in our days!"). The verses are few and simple, but bursting with thanksgiving and praise to our loving Heavenly Father and His Son, our Savior:
Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!
All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;

For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
Catherine Winkworth
This text is thought to have first appeared in Rinkart's 1636 hymn collection Jesu Hertz-Buchlein, but no copy of that publication is now known. The text also appears in the second (1663) edition of Jesu Hertz-Büchlein, where the wording slightly varies, and the piece is entitled "Grace" ("Tisch-Gebetlein," that is, a short prayer at table). But its real fame derives from its 1647 appearance in Praxis Pietatis Melica, a hymn collection edited by renowned German composer Johann Crüger (1598-1662), and regarded as the outstanding German hymnal of the 17th century.

The text was translated from German to English by Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878), in 1856. This was not its first translation into English, but is generally regarded as the best.  According to The Harvard University Hymn Book, Ms. Winkworth "did more than any other single individual to make the rich heritage of German hymnody available to the English-speaking world."

THE MUSIC

 
Johann Crüger
 Felix Mendelssohn
The tune to which Rinkart's text has been sung, ever since they appeared together in the 1647 Praxis Pietatis Melica, is NUN DANKET, also known as the Leuthen Chorale. The melody is generally attributed to Johann Crüger, although Catherine Winkworth believed that Martin Rinkart wrote the tune in 1644. The now-standard harmonization was devised by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840 when he adopted the hymn, sung in the key of F major and with its original German lyrics, as the chorale to his Second Symphony, known as the Lobgesang or Hymn of Praise.

After the Battle of Leuthen in 1757, during another conflict between European powers known as the Seven Years' War, an unknown Prussian soldier standing near Frederick the Great is said to have begun singing the Leuthen Chorale spontaneously, upon which the hymn was taken up by the entire assembled Prussian army, about 25.000 men.

 

LEGACY

Now Thank We All Our God is often used in Christian weddings and other joyous religious ceremonies. It has been called the national "Te Deum" of  Germany because it has been sung on so many occasions of national rejoicing. (Kenneth W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories (Kregel Publications, 1982), p. 173).

HEAR IT PERFORMED

In the beautiful video below, Now Thank We All Our God is performed by a magnificent, but unidentified, solo tenor backed by a choir.



The traditional choral rendition in the video below is by the Chamber Choir of Lincoln Minster School in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England.



In this video, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra perform Now Thank We All Our God, in an arrangement by British composer and conductor John Rutter that emphasizes the hymn's exultant, celebratory character:



The lovely video below features the Chorale from Felix Mendelssohn's Second Symphony (Lobgesang), which is based on Johann Crüger's tune NUN DANKET (the Chorale ends at 4:22 of the video):



* * * * * 
Calamity and suffering are always occasions to pray, typically for mercy and relief. But they can also be occasions to thank God for all He has done for us and all we are confident He will yet do. Did He not give us life?  Did not Jesus suffer more than we can comprehend, to purchase for us redemption and eternal life? We will always be vexed less than many others, and always infinitely blessed through Christ's loving atonement. This is more than enough reason, despite our earthly trials, to sing with the Psalmist: "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." (Psalm 106:1)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe (1914)