"Veni Creator Spiritus" is a traditional Christian hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus, a ninth-century German monk, teacher, archbishop, and saint. When the original Latin text is used, it is normally sung to a Gregorian Chant tune first known from Kempten Abbey around the year 1000. The hymn has been translated and paraphrased into several languages, and adapted into many musical forms, often as a hymn for Pentecost or for other occasions that focus on the Holy Spirit.
"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.
Gotteslob is the title of the hymnbook authorized by the Catholic dioceses in Germany, Austria, South Tyrol, Luxembourg and Liège, Belgium. First published in Advent 2013, it is the current official hymnal for German-speaking Catholics, succeeding the first common German hymnal, the 1975 edition of the same name. Each diocese published a book containing a common section and a regional section. The first editions amounted to around 4 million copies.
Advent songs are songs and hymns intended for Advent, the four weeks of preparation for Christmas. Topics of the time of expectation are the hope for a Messiah, prophecies, and the symbolism of light, among others. Several of the songs are part of hymnals such as the German Catholic Gotteslob (GL) and the Protestant Evangelisches Gesangbuch (EG).
Georg Thurmair was a German poet who wrote around 300 hymns, a writer, journalist and author of documentary films.
"Macht hoch die Tür" is a popular German Advent hymn, written in 17th century Ducal Prussia. The lyrics were written by Georg Weissel in 1623 for the inauguration of the Altroßgärter Kirche in Königsberg. The melody that is now associated with the text appeared first in 1704 in the hymnal by Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen.
"Das ist der Tag, den Gott gemacht" is a German Christian hymn for Easter. In the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob it appears as Gl 329.
"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.
""Wahrer Gott, wir glauben dir" is a Catholic hymn. Christoph Bernhard Verspoell (1743–1818), a cleric from Münster, wrote text and melody, and published it in 1810 in his hymnal Orgelbegleitung zu den Gesängen beym Römisch-kathol. Gottesdienste. Herausgegeben von C. B. Verspoell. The song in two stanzas has remained in the repertory of church hymns, used mainly during Eastertide, but also for communion and funerals. It appears in several regional sections of the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob, as GL 770 in Cologne, as GL 780 in Limburg and Münster, and as GL 783 in Speyer, among others.
"Komm, Schöpfer Geist, kehr bei uns ein" is a Christian hymn in German for Pentecost. The text is a paraphrase of the Latin hymn Veni Creator Spiritus by Heinrich Bone. It was first published in 1845. In the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob, it is GL 351.
Heinrich Bone was a German educator and hymnwriter. He wrote a reader for German studies which was used for higher education in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria, until it was banned during the Kulturkampf. He published a hymnal, Cantate!, which was used by several Catholic dioceses and became a model for common hymnals. Some of his own hymns, including paraphrases of Latin hymns, are part of recent hymnals, both Catholic and Protestant, such as "Komm, Schöpfer Geist, kehr bei uns ein" as a paraphrase of the 9th-century hymn for Pentecost, Veni Creator Spiritus.
"Komm, Heilger Geist, der Leben schafft" is a Christian hymn in German for Pentecost. The text is a paraphrase of the Latin hymn Veni Creator Spiritus by Friedrich Dörr, with a 1524 melody. It was first published in the Catholic German hymnal Gotteslob in 1975.
Friedrich Dörr was a German Catholic priest and professor of theology, who is known as a hymnwriter. He shaped the first common German Catholic hymnal, Gotteslob, published in 1975.
"Mein Hirt ist Gott der Herr" is a Christian hymn with German text by Caspar Ulenberg who paraphrased Psalm 23 in 1582. Based on his melody, Johannes Hatzfeld wrote a melody in 1948.
"Zu dir, o Gott, erheben wir" is a Christian hymn with German text written by Heinrich Bone in 1851 to a melody by Caspar Ulenberg dating to 1582.
"Mit Ernst, o Menschenkinder" is an Advent hymn by Valentin Thilo. It partly paraphrases the call to penitence by John the Baptist. The text was first published in 1642 in the collection Preußische Festlieder. The different melody that later became popular dates back to 1557.
"Lobpreiset all zu dieser Zeit" is a Christian hymn in German for a new year with text by Heinrich Bone written in 1851. It is contained in the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob. It is sung to a melody that Martin Luther created in 1529.
"Herr, gib uns Mut zum Hören" is a Christian hymn, with text and melody written in 1963 by Kurt Rommel. The song, of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied (NGL), is part of German hymnals, including Gotteslob, and of songbooks.
"Nahe wollt der Herr uns sein" is a Christian hymn with German text, translated in 1971 from a 1964 Dutch hymn by Huub Oosterhuis. Its refrain says that God is among people but not recognised. The song, of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied (NGL), appeared from 1975 in German hymnals, then in the common section of the Catholic Gotteslob. In the hymnal's second edition, it appeared only in regional sections.
