"Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben"[a] ("Dearest God, when will I die")[8][b] is a Lutheran hymn which Caspar Neumann, an evangelical theologian from Breslau, wrote around 1690.[16][17][18] The topic of the hymn, which has five stanzas of eight lines, is a reflection on death. An elaborate analysis of the hymn's content was published in 1749. A few text variants of the hymn originated in the 18th century. Neumann's text is usually sung to the hymn tune of "Freu dich sehr o meine Seele".
The closing chorale of BWV8 is a reworked version of Vetter's four-part setting. The appreciation of the similarity (or: difference) between this cantata movement, BWV8/6, and Vetter's original ranges from "somewhat altered"[19] to "with radical alterations",[20] the 1998 edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis listing the 1724 version as a composition by Vetter. Another setting of Neumann's hymn was published in 1747.
Text
St Mary Magdalene Church in Breslau (19th-century drawing)
Neumann was born in Breslau (now Wrocław in Poland, then in German Silesia) in 1648.[18][21] From 1667 to 1670 he studied in Jena.[22] Less than a year after having been assigned court preacher in Altenburg in 1678, he returned to his native town, where he became pastor at the St Mary Magdalene Church in 1689.[23] He wrote "Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben" around 1690.[16][17] It is a Lutheran hymn in five stanzas of eight lines.[1] Its hymn metre is 8.7.8.7.7.7.8.8.[24] The topic of the hymn text is a reflection on death.[25] Gabriel Wimmer's extensive commentary on the hymn was published in 1749.[26][27]
Content
In what follows, the German text of Neumann's hymn is according to Wimmer's publication,[28] and the English translation of the hymn, where provided, is according to Charles Sanford Terry's 1917 publication on hymns as included in Bach's cantatas and motets: these verse translations are John Troutbeck's as published by Novello.[10][29][30] The explanatory notes, comparing the hymn text to bible passages, are a translation of Wimmer's, based on KJV for bible quotes.[31]
First stanza
Liebster GOtt, wenn werd ich sterben?[I, 1] Meine Zeit läuft immer hin,[I, 2] und des alten Adams Erben,[I, 3] unter denen ich auch bin,[I, 4] haben diß zum Vater-Theil,[I, 5] daß sie eine kleine Weil[I, 6] arm und elend sein auf Erden, und denn selber Erde werden.[I, 7]
When will God recall my spirit? Lives of men run swiftly by; All who Adam's frame inherit, One among his heirs am I, Know that this befalls the race, They but for a little space Dwell on earth in want and mourning, Soon to earth themselves returning.
Zwar ich will mich gar nicht widern[II, 1] zu beschliessen meine Zeit trag ich doch in allen Gliedern Saamen von der Sterblichkeit,[II, 2] muß doch immer da und dort einer nach den andern fort,[II, 3] und schon mancher liegt im Grabe den ich wohl gekennet habe.[II, 4]
Aber, GOtt, was werd ich dencken,[III, 1] wenn es wird ans sterben gehn?[III, 2] Wo wird man den Leib versencken?[III, 3] Wie wirds um die Seele stehn?[III, 4] Ach! Was Kummer fällt mir ein: Wessen wird mein Vorrath sein![III, 5] Und wo werden meine Lieben nach einander sich verstieben?[III, 6]
↑ Jonah2:4: "Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight"
Doch was darf es dieser Sorgen?[IV, 1] Soll ich nicht zu JEsu gehn?[IV, 2] Lieber heute noch als morgen, denn mein Fleisch wird auferstehn;[IV, 3] ich verzeih es gern der Welt, daß sie allen Schein behält,[IV, 4] und bescheide meinen Erben einen GOtt,[IV, 5] der nicht kan sterben.[IV, 6]
Herrscher uber Tod und Leben,[V, 1] mach einmal mein Ende gut;[V, 2] Lehre mich den Geist aufgeben mit recht wohlgefasstem Muth,[V, 3] hilf, dass ich ein ehrlich Grab neben frommen Christen hab,[V, 4] und auch endlich in der Erde nimmermehr zu Schanden werde.[V, 5]
Thou that life and death ordainest, Make it mine in peace to die; Let me yield the soul Thou trainest, With a courage calm and high. Grant that I an honoured grave With the holy dead may have, Earthly grief and toil forsaking, Nevermore to shame awaking.
↑ Romans14:9: "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living"; Psalms8:2; Psalms103:19
↑ Psalms71:1: "In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion"; Psalms31:1
Another linking of phrases from the hymn, and paraphrases thereof, to biblical passages can be found in Melvin P. Unger's 1996 book with interlinear translations of Bach's cantata texts.[32]
Adaptations
Copies of the 1720 and 1721 prints of Franz Anton von Sporck's Verschiedene Buß-Gedancken Einer Reumüthigen Seele, Uber Die Sterblichkeit deß Menschens are extant. The publication contains "O Gott! mein Zeit laufft immer hin", which is an adaptation of Neumann's hymn. Like the original, it has five stanzas of eight lines.[33]
The text of the four middle movements of BWV8 is an expanded paraphrase of stanzas two to four of Neumann's hymn. The second and third stanza of the hymn form the basis of the second and third movement of the cantata, which are an aria followed by a recitative. The text of the next two movements of the cantata, again an aria followed by a recitative, draws from, and expands upon, the hymn's fourth stanza.[34][35][36]
In 1789, Benjamin Friedrich Schmieder[wikisource] published Hymnologie, oder, Ueber Tugenden und Fehler der verschiedenen Arten geistlicher Lieder, in which he presented an improved version of Neumann's hymn. Schmieder clarifies the improvements he proposes in accompanying prose. The incipit of this version reads: "Ach wie bald, Herr, kan ich sterben!" (lit.'Ah how soon, Lord, can I die!').[37]
Shortly after Neumann's death, in 1715, his collected prayers and hymns were published in Breslau, under the title Kern Aller Gebete und Gesänge.[38] The publication mentions two possible pre-existing hymn tunes for "Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben":[39]
The second, Zahn No. 6551, was composed by Johann Schop and published in 1642.[40] The first, Zahn No.6543, EG524, became the common melody for Neumann's hymn.[1][34][41] This tune was originally published for a French (1551), and later a German (1587), version of Psalm 42 ("As the hart panteth after the water brooks"), before it was used for the "Freu dich sehr o meine Seele" hymn in the early 17th century, with which it was later generally associated.[42] This melody is also known as GENEVAN42, referring to its first publication, as "Wie nach einer Wasserquelle", referring to the German version of Psalm 42, and as "Abermal ein Jahr verflossen", referring to another hymn sung to the same tune.[42][43][c] Bach adopted this melody with various texts (none of these, however, from Neumann's hymn) in his cantatas BWV 13, 19, 25, 30, 32, 39, 70 and 194.[45] Hymnals which contain the text of Neumann's hymn and indicate the Zahn 6543 melody as its tune include:[46]
Das Privilegirte Ordentliche und Vermehrte Dreßdnische Gesang-Buch, No.623 in editions of 1730, 1759 and 1768[47]
Sammlung von geist- und trostreichen Sterb- und Begräbniß-Liedern (1747), No.62[48]
Neues vollständiges Gesang-Buch, für die Königlich-Preußische, auch Churfürstlich-Brandenburgische und andere Lande, No.623 in editions of 1748 and 1757[49]
Neu-eingerichtetes Kirchen- und Haus- Gesang-Buch (1749), No.1007[50]
Allgemeines und vollständiges Evangelisches Gesangbuch für die Königl. Preuß. Schles. Lande (1751), No.1046[3]
Vetter, a native of Breslau, published his four-part setting of Neumann's hymn in 1713, in the second volume of his Musicalische Kirch- und Hauß-Ergötzlichkeit.[24][25][58] In the introduction of that publication he wrote:[24][25]
Da nun (...) die Sterbens-Lieder nothwendig hinzu gefüget werden müßten / so ist es nicht weniger durch die Erfahrung beglaubiget / wie erbaulich auf diese Weise die Todes-Gedancken glaübiger Herzen unterhalten werden können. (...) Dergleichen löbwurdige Sterbens-Gedancken hat auch / bey gesunden tagen / der Geistreiche und wegen des / bey allen andächtigen Betern sehr beliebten Büchleins / Kern aller Gebete genannt / besonders wohlbekannte Theologus und Prediger in Breßlau / Herr Mag. Caspar Neumann / in dem schönen Liede: Liebster Gott wenn werd ich sterben &c Mit poetischer Feder entworffen: Dessen Composition mir Herr Jacobus Wilisius, Breßlauischer Cantor zu St. Bernhardi ehemals aufgetragen / immassen derselbe solches bey seiner Beerdigung abzusingen verordnet hatte / wie auch nachgehends Anno 1695. würcklich geschehen / mittlerzeit aber ist dieses Lied / durch so viel Verstimmelung sehr unkäntlich worden / dannenhero ich vor nöthig befunden / demselben seine vorige Gestalt wiederumb zu geben / und vielen andächtigen Gemüthern hier an diesem Orte zu Liebe / welche bey glückseligem zustande zugleich ihres Todes offters ingedenck zu seyn nicht ermangeln / diesem Wercke beyzufügen / auch einen langsamen Tact, so viel nur möglich / dabey zu recommandiren.
While (...) necessarily hymns about death had to be added, it is thus no less confirmed by experience, how faithful hearts can, in this manner, entertain uplifting thoughts about death. (...) Such kind of commendable thoughts about dying, were, when in good health, designed with a poetic pen in the beautiful hymn "Dearest God when will I die" by the inspired theologian and preacher from Breslau, Master Caspar Neumann, who is particularly well-known because of the booklet named Core of all Prayers—which is much loved by all who engage in devout prayer. Jacob Wilisius, at the time cantor of St.Bernard in Breslau[commons], commissioned me to set this hymn, and then ordered this to be sung at his funeral: this eventually happened in 1695. In the meanwhile, the hymn's setting has become unrecognisable by much mutilation, thus I found it necessary to restore its erstwhile form, and present this work, for which I also recommend as much as possible a slow tempo, here for the benefit of many devout souls, who even in a state of bliss don't fail to often ponder their death.
Vetter's SATB setting, which has a figured bass, is in E-flat major.[58][61] It is in bar form, with the stollen comprising two lines of text.[24][58] Its character is rather that of a sacred aria than that of a (church) song or chorale.[19][41] The soprano's melody of Vetter's setting is a hymn tune known as Zahn No.6634:[24]
This expressive melody is Pietist, as opposed to the hymn tunes customary in Orthodox Lutheranism.[35] By the late 18th century, Vetter's setting of Neumann's hymn was hardly remembered.[41]
Compositions based on Vetter's setting
Last stanza of Neumann's hymn set to the Zahn6634 melody in the soprano part of BWV8/6: manuscript used for the première of Bach's chorale cantata in 1724.
There was a copy of the 1713 volume of Vetter's Musicalische Kirch- und Hauß-Ergötzlichkeit in the household of Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach.[64] Johann Sebastian composed the first version of his BWV8 cantata in 1724.[65] It is a cantata for the 16th Sunday after Trinity which is part of his second cantata cycle.[66] Its first movement, setting the first stanza of the hymn, is a chorale fantasia on a modified form of Vetter's hymn tune.[25][34][65] Its last movement, in E major like the first, is a reworked version of Vetter's four-part setting, for SATB choir, colla parte instruments and figured bass, with the last stanza of Neumann's hymn as text.[25][65][67] By around 1735 the vocal parts of this movement, BWV8/6, were adopted in the Dietel manuscript.[5][68]
The final movement in the setting adopted from Vetter's reads:
BWV483 in Schemellis Gesangbuch
The Dietel manuscript also contains a four-part setting in E-flat major, BWVdeest, of Vetter's hymn tune.[16] In 1736, a voice and continuo arrangement of Vetter's hymn tune, attributed to Bach (BWV 483), in the same key, was included in Schemellis Gesangbuch.[24][61][70] In 1747 Bach produced a second version of his BWV8 cantata: its outer movements are D major transpositions of the same movements of the earlier version of the cantata.[71]
Left: first volume of Birnstiel's publications of four-part chorales by Bach (1765), p.24, which includes BWV8/6 (as No.47); Right: BWV8/6, No.43 p.24 in Breitkopf's publication of J.S. Bach's four-part chorales, edited by C.P.E. Bach, Vol.I (1784)[5]
According to Winterfeld, Vetter's 1713 setting and the closing chorale of Bach's cantata are largely comparable: he sees it as an example of how Bach could, with a few adjustments, perfect an otherwise already agreeable composition.[59] Winterfeld compared both settings in the Annex of his 1847 publication:[24][74]
Top row: Vetter's original setting (Winterfeld's example 97a); Bottom row: BWV8/6 version (example 97b)[24][74]
The Bach Gesellschaft published the E major version of Bach's chorale cantata in 1851, edited by Moritz Hauptmann.[75] Spitta described the closing chorale of the cantata as a somewhat altered version of Vetter's setting.[19] The BWV483 setting was published in the Bach Gesellschaft Edition in 1893, edited by Franz Wüllner.[76]Henry Clough-Leighter[scores; ca] published the vocal score of the outer movements of the BWV8 cantata in 1935, with his own piano reduction of the instrumental accompaniment.[77] In the 1975 volume of the Bach-Jahrbuch, Emil Platen described the BWV8/6 setting as a reworking of Vetter's original.[78] The New Bach Edition (NBE) contains four instances of the BWV8/6 chorale:
In Emajor, orchestrated, as part of the BWV8.1 cantata, in Vol. I/23 (1982; editor: Helmuth Osthoff).[65]
In the same volume, the Dmajor version, orchestrated, as part of the BWV8.2 cantata.[71]
The Emajor version of the Dietel manuscript, containing only the vocal parts, in Vol. III/2.1 (1991; edited by Frieder Rempp[scores]).[5]
Vol. I/23 of the NBE also contains both the E and D major versions of Bach's chorale fantasia on Vetter's "Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben" with which the BWV8 cantata opens.[65][71] The III/2.1 volume of the NBE includes the E-flat major chorale from the Dietel manuscript (in the publication indicated as BWV8/6*), and the BWV483 setting.[16][61] In the 1998 edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, which was co-edited by Alfred Dürr, the BWV8/6 setting was listed in the third Anhang, that is the Anhang of works spuriously attributed to Bach, with a reference to Platen's Bach-Jahrbuch article: in that version of the catalogue of Bach's works the composition is attributed to Vetter.[79] In 2005, Richard D. P. Jones translated Dürr as writing, in his 1992 book on Bach's cantatas, that BWV8/6 was "borrowed from Daniel Vetter, albeit with radical alterations."[20] According to the same authors, Vetter's melody "had been commissioned for the burial of the Cantor Jakob Wilisius, and was no doubt especially well known in Leipzig."[35]
Setting in Reimann's collection (1747)
Johann Balthasar Reimann[de] published his Sammlung alter und neuer Melodien Evangelischer Lieder (Collection of old and new melodies of Evangelical songs) in 1747. As No.268 it contains a setting for Neumann's "Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben". Reimann was the first to publish this sacred song, but it is not his composition. Its tune, Zahn No.6635, reappeared in an 18th-century manuscript and a 19th-century print.[24][80]
"Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben" in Reimann's Sammlung (1747)[24]
↑ For the "Abermal ein Jahr verflossen" name variant, see, e.g., Vollständiges Hessen-Hanauisches Choralbuch (1754), where the Register indicates No.578, that is the "Freu dich sehr o meine Seele" melody, as tune for "Abermal ein Jahr verflossen".[44]
Clough-Leighter, Henry[at Wikidata], ed. (1935). Johann Sebastian Bach: Liebster Gott, wann werd' ich sterben? = When Will God Recall My Spirit? Two choruses for mixed voices from Cantata No. 8. Sacred Music. Vol.1674. Translated by Troutbeck, John. German words by Kaspar Neumann (vocal scoreed.). Boston: E. C. Schirmer. OCLC30146508. E.C.S. 909.
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