 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(October 2023) |
| Part of a series on |
| Anabaptism |
|---|
 |
 Christianityportal |
The Ausbund ("Paragon" in German) is the oldest Anabaptist hymnal and one of the oldest Christian song books in continuous use. It is used today by North American Amish congregations.
The core of the Ausbund is based on fifty-one songs written by Anabaptists from Passau,Bavaria. Eleven of these songs were written by their leader, Michael Schneider. Twelve others may have been written by Hans Betz. The hymns were composed in the dungeon of Passau Castle, where the Anabaptists were imprisoned between 1535 and 1540 because of their convictions. Some—among them Hans Betz—did not survive the imprisonment. Many of these imprisoned Anabaptists were martyred.
The collection was printed in 1564. A copy of this first printing is found at the Mennonite Historical Library of Goshen College, bearing the title Etliche schöne christliche Gesäng wie dieselbigen zu Passau von den Schweizer Brüdern in der Gefenknus im Schloss durch göttliche Gnade gedicht und gesungen warden. Ps. 139 (Several Beautiful Christian Songs Which Were Written and Sung Through God's Grace by the Swiss Brethren in the Passau Castle Prison).
The printed hymnal must have been widely circulated. By the Frankenthaler Colloquiums (1571) it was already used as a source of criticism by opponents of Anabaptism.
Another edition of the hymnal with eighty more songs appeared in 1583. This is the first edition where the word Ausbund appears on the title page: Ausbund. Das ist etliche schöne christenliche Lieder, etc. Allen und jeden Christen, welcher Religion sie seien, unpartheyisch nützlich.
Later editions included 137 (Europe) and 140 (North America) songs. In all there are eleven known European editions of the Ausbund. In the 16th and 17th centuries the hymnals were published in Cologne and the Rhineland. In the 18th and 19th centuries new editions appeared in Basel und Strasbourg. The last European edition was printed in Basel in 1838. The first American Ausbund appeared in 1742 and was printed at Christopher Saur's Germantown press. Mennonite Bishop Henry Funck was the publisher of this hymnal, which was used until the end of the 18th century by the Swiss Mennonite churches. It was replaced by Die kleine geistliche Harfe and Unpartheyisches Gesangbuch of 1804, both from Pennsylvania.
The Ausbund is now exclusively used in Amish worship, preserving the unique spirit of the 17th-century Anabaptists. A number of the hymns have been translated into English both in book reference form and also set to music as found in the Christian Hymnary where it is used in many Conservative Mennonite worship services.
The oldest songs from the Ausbund are mainly about the suffering church in a hostile environment. At the center stand those serious Christians who are prepared to die for their faith. They reflect not only grief and despair, but also the understanding of God's presence. There are always more reasons to thank God as one pours out their troubles. Among others, song number 131, O Gott, Vater, wir loben dich und deine Güte preisen wir (O God, Father, we praise you and your kindness we praise), today is sung at beginning of each Amish worship service.
The first song of the Ausbund is from the pen of Sebastian Franck. The song teaches that Christians should sing in spirit and truth, pray and praise God with Psalms. The second song is an adaptation of the Athanasian Creed.
Songs 6, 7 and 8 are written by Felix Manz, Michael Sattler and Hans Hut, all Anabaptist martyrs. Other martyr songs are by Leonhard Schiemer, Hans Schlaffer, George Blaurock and Hans Leupold, who were among the victims of the first great persecution of Anabaptists.
Hans Büchl, participant in the Frankenthaler Colloquiums, is the writer of five Ausbund songs. Eleven songs are of Dutch origin. The Dutch Anabaptists wrote another eleven songs. Five songs are from the Bohemian Brothers.
Many of Ausbund songs have a teaching character: Bible lessons, the Anabaptist views on believers baptism, the Lord's Supper and a focus on eschatology. Songs in this last topic include Büchl's (Nr. 46): Ain new christelich Lied von der gegenwardig schröcklichen letzten Dagen, in welchen so vil verschieden secten, auffrührerisch und falsche Propheten erschainen, auch blutdirstige tyrannen (A new Christian song from the current terrible last days, in which many different sects, rebellious and false prophets and bloodthirsty tyrants appear).
Until 1809 the European Ausbund was distributed with no indication of location or publisher. From 1692 the government of Bern forbade the distribution or possession of this hymnal and ordered its confiscation under threat of severe punishment.
The American edition contains the confession of faith of Thomas von Imbroich (1558) entitled Wahrhaftigen Bericht über die große Trübsal, die die Geschwister rund um Zürich für ihre Glaubenssache zwischen 1635 und 1645 zu erleiden hatten (a collection of martyr stories).
From a literary viewpoint the content of the Ausbund is of limited quality, yet witnesses of a deep religious belief and sacrificial devotion of the believers.
The Ausbund contains no notes; most of the songs were sung to popular melodies. According to the research of George Pullen Jackson, some melodies came from folk and love songs and others from chorales and hymns. The oldest melodies are from the 13th and 14th centuries. As with most Christian hymnbooks, the Amish normally use the Ausbund only in church. Their traditional melodies are called "slow tunes", but they put other melodies on the words during singing. Author Joseph Yoder compared the slow tempo of the music as it is sung today to Gregorian Chant, but this was not always the case. The Amish slow tunes of the 20th century are probably descended from tunes that the original Anabaptists knew. But over time, and with neither written notation nor musical instruments to keep the beat, the tunes have slowed down and ornamentation has been added in.
Leonhard Schiemer:Dein heilig statt
Dein heilig statt hond sie zerstört, / dein Altar umbgegraben, / darzu auch deine Knecht ermördt, / wo sie's ergriffen haben. / Nur wir allein / dein heuflein klein, / sind wenig uberbliben, / mit schmach und schand / durch alle land / verjaget und vertriben.
Wir sind zerstrewt gleich wie die schaf, / die keinen Hirten haben, / verlassen unser hauß und hooff / und sind gleich dem Nachtraben, / der sich auch offt / hewlt in steinklufft. / In Felsen und in klufften / ist unser gmach, / man stellt uns nach, / wie Vöglein in der lufften.
Wir schleichen in den Wälden umb, / man sucht uns mit den Hunden, / man führt uns als die Lemlein stum / gefangen und gebunden. / Man zeigt uns an vor jedermann, / als weren wir Auffrürer, / wir sind geacht / wie Schaf zur schlacht / als Ketzer und verführer.
Vil sind auch in den Banden eng / an ihrem leib verdorben, / ettliche durch die marter streng / umbkommen und gestorben / on alle schuld; / hie ist gedult / der Heiligen auff erden. / (..........?)
Man hat sie an die bäum gehenkt, / erwürget und zerhawen, / heimlich und öffentlich ertrenckt / vil Weiber und jungfrawen. / Die haben frey / ohn alle schew / der warheit zeugnuß geben, / dasz Jesus Christ / die wahrheit ist, / der weg und auch das leben.
Noch tobt die Welt und ruhet nicht, / ist gar unsinnig worden, / vil lügen sie auff uns erdicht, / mit brennen und mit morden / thut sie uns bang. / O Herr, wie lang / willtu dazzu doch schweigen? / Richt den hochmut, / der heiligen bluth / laß wer dein Thron auffsteigen!
Topics
Anglican hymnals
Lutheran hymnals
Presbyterian hymnals
Reformed hymnals
Kindertotenlieder is a song cycle (1904) for voice and orchestra by Gustav Mahler. The words of the songs are poems by Friedrich Rückert.
Judith Holfelder-Roy, known by her stage name Judith Holofernes, is a German singer, guitarist, songwriter and author.
Hans Hut was a very active Anabaptist in southern Germany and Austria.
The First Lutheran hymnal, published in 1524 as Etlich Cristlich lider / Lobgesang und Psalm, often also often referred to as the Achtliederbuch, was the first Lutheran hymnal.
The Erfurt Enchiridion is the second Lutheran hymnal. It appeared in 1524 in Erfurt in two competing editions. One of them contains 26 songs, the other 25, 18 of them by Martin Luther, others by Elisabeth Cruciger, Erhard Hegenwald, Justus Jonas and Paul Speratus. While the songs of the Enchiridion could be used in churches, they were intended primarily for singing elsewhere, such as at home, at court, and in guild meetings.
Praxis pietatis melica is a Protestant hymnal first published in the 17th century by Johann Crüger. The hymnal, which appeared under this title from 1647 to 1737 in 45 editions, has been described as "the most successful and widely-known Lutheran hymnal of the 17th century". Crüger composed melodies to texts that were published in the hymnal and are still sung today, including "Jesu, meine Freude", "Herzliebster Jesu", and "Nun danket alle Gott". Between 1647 and 1661, Crüger first printed 90 songs by his friend Paul Gerhardt, including "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden".
Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn, was the first German hymnal harmonised for choir, published in Wittenberg in 1524 by Johann Walter who collaborated with Martin Luther. It contains 32 sacred songs, including 24 by Luther, in settings by Walter for three to five parts with the melody in the tenor. Luther wrote a preface for the part books. The collection has been called the root of all Protestant song music.
"Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet" is a Lutheran hymn of 1524 with words written by Martin Luther who used an older first stanza and melody. It is a song of thanks after communion. Luther's version in three stanzas was printed in the Erfurt Enchiridion of 1524 and in Johann Walter's choral hymnal Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn the same year. Today, the song appears in German hymnals, including both the Protestant Evangelisches Gesangbuch, and in a different version in the Catholic Gotteslob.
"Straf mich nicht in deinem Zorn" is a Lutheran hymn with a text written by Johann Georg Albinus as a paraphrase of Psalm 6. It was first printed with a formerly secular melody in Dresden in 1694. The song was included in 31 hymnals. The melody inspired musical settings both for organ and vocal works. The hymn was translated by Catherine Winkworth as "Not in anger, Mighty God", which appeared in 13 hymnals.
Georg Thurmair was a German poet who wrote around 300 hymns, a writer, journalist and author of documentary films.
"Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele" is a Lutheran hymn in German, with lyrics by Johann Franck and a hymn tune by Johann Crüger. It was first published in Crüger's 1649 Geistliche Kirchen-Melodien, and was later adopted in other hymnals, such as the 1653 edition of his Praxis pietatis melica.
"Ach lieben Christen seid getrost" is a Lutheran hymn in German with lyrics by Johannes Gigas, written in 1561. A penitential hymn, it was the basis for Bach's chorale cantata Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost, BWV 114.
"Zu Bethlehem geboren" is a German Christmas carol. The text is attributed to Friedrich Spee, and was first printed in the collection Geistlichen Psälterlein by Johannes Heringsdorf in Cologne in 1637. The author was unknown until the 20th century, but research of style and content arrived at the attribution. The song was printed with a then-popular secular melody in 1638. The song appears in current Catholic and Protestant hymnals.
"Das Grab ist leer, der Held erwacht" is a Catholic hymn for Easter, first printed in 1777 in the hymnal Landshuter Gesangbuch published by Franz Seraph von Kohlbrenner. Keeping only the first of five stanzas, with additional two stanzas, it appeared in hymnals of the 19th century, and later in different versions in several regional sections of the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob. It is a frequently sung hymn in Easter services.
"Nun, Brüder, sind wir frohgemut" is a German Catholic hymn. It was written by Georg Thurmair as both a pilgrimage song and a Marian hymn. The melody was composed by Adolf Lohmann, who wrote a choral setting in 1936. Related to youth pilgrimages to an image of Mary at the Altenberger Dom, it is also known as "Altenberger Wallfahrtslied". The song is regarded as an Oppositionelles Lied, in subtle protest against the Nazi regime.
Hymnody in continental Europe developed from early liturgical music, especially Gregorian chant. Music became more complicated as embellishments and variations were added, along with influences from secular music. Although vernacular leisen and vernacular or mixed-language carols were sung in the Middle Ages, more vernacular hymnody emerged during the Protestant Reformation, although ecclesiastical Latin continued to be used after the Reformation. Since then, developments have shifted between isorhythmic, homorhythmic, and more rounded musical forms with some lilting. Theological underpinnings influenced the narrative point of view used, with Pietism especially encouraging the use of the first person singular. In the last several centuries, many songs from Evangelicalism have been translated from English into German.
"Nun liebe Seel, nun ist es Zeit", alternatively written "Nun, liebe Seel, nun ist es Zeit", is a Lutheran hymn for Epiphany, in five stanzas of six lines each, by Georg Weissel. It was first printed in 1642, set as a motet by Johannes Eccard. A version with an additional stanza is attributed to Johann Christoph Arnschwanger.
"Freuet euch der schönen Erde" is a Lutheran hymn in German with a text by Philipp Spitta in 1827. In the hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch, it appears as EG 510, with a 1928 melody by Frieda Fronmüller.
"O komm, du Geist der Wahrheit" is a Lutheran hymn for Pentecost in German. The text was written by Philipp Spitta, probably in 1827, and published in 1833 in the song collection Psalter und Harfe. It is a prayer to the Holy Spirit for courage to confession in a time poor in faith. The hymn which first appeared without a melody, is now usually sung to the 1529 melody of "Lob Gott getrost mit Singen". It is part of the current Protestant hymnal, and of other hymnals.
| Background | |
|---|---|
| Groups | |
| History | |
| Theology | |
| Practices | |
| Notable Anabaptists | |
