"Maria, breit den Mantel aus" (Mary, spread out your cloak) is one of the most popular Marian hymns in German, first printed in 1640.
The oldest extant print of "Maria, breit den Mantel aus" is in a booklet of four Marian hymns published by the Innsbruck music publisher Michael Wagner, under the header "Vier schöne newe geistliche Lieder, Von vnser lieben Frawen der Himmelkönigin Maria vnnd Muetter der Barmhertzigkeit, Gemacht vnnd gesungen zue ehren der Wunderthättigen Bildtnuß vnser lieben Frawen von Foy, welche zue Ynßprugg in der Kirchen der Societet Jesu, von jedermeniglich mit grosser Andacht verehrt wirdt, vnder dem Tittel der Muetter der Barmhertzigkeit" (Four beautiful new spiritual songs, of our dear Lady Queen of Heaven Mary and Mother of mercy, made and sung to honour the miraculous image of our dear Lady of Foy, which is honoured by everybody at the church of the Society of Jesus in Innsbruck with great devotion, under the title Mother of mercy.). [1] The song has 29 stanzas in this print, [2] : 156 of uneven poetic quality. It is probably a compilation of older origins. The song remained in hymnals until the middle of the 18th century.
The song was revived from the middle of the 19th century, when Catholics needed songs during the Kulturkampf against the majority of Protestants in Prussia. [2] : 159 Philipp Maximilian Körner (1811–1854), a collector of songs during the Romantic period, printed the four songs of 1640 in 1941 in his collection Marianischer Liederkranz. [3] : 333–337
The Jesuit Guido Maria Dreves published a revision of the text in 1885, [4] and Joseph Hermann Mohr published a revised text with a new melody in 1891. [5] The two versions entered regional publications; Dreves' version was published in the regional hymnal of the Diocese of Meissen, while Mohr's version was accepted into the hymnals of Basel, Freiburg and Münster.
Georg Thurmair and Adolf Lohmann united in 1934 Dreves' melody with the text by Mohr. This version, reduced to four stanzas, became accepted to the common hymnal in German, Gotteslob as GL 595, retained in the second edition as GL 534. [6]
The melody as in the first Innsbruck print from 1640, and the Gotteslob: [1]
"Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten" is a 1641 hymn by Georg Neumark, who also composed the melody for it. It has seven verses and deals with the Christian putting their trust in God. Its author referred to it as a "Trostlied" or song of consolation and it first appeared in his Fortgepflantzer musikalisch-poetischer Lustwald. It also appeared in Johann Crüger's 1672 Praxis pietatis melica and in the first part of Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen's 1704 Geistreiches Gesangbuch. It has inspired musical settings, and is part of current German hymnals, both Protestant and Catholic.
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".
"Vom Himmel hoch, o Engel, kommt", also known as "Susani", is a German Christmas carol. It was first printed in 1622 as an alternate text to an older melody. In eight stanzas of two lines each, the angels are requested to come from Heaven, bring their musical instruments, and play and sing of Jesus and Mary, and ultimately for peace for the people.
"Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns den Gotteszorn wandt" is a Lutheran hymn in ten stanzas by Martin Luther for communion, first published in 1524 in the Erfurt Enchiridion. It is one of Luther's hymns which he wrote to strengthen his concepts of reformation. The models for the text and the melody of Luther's hymn existed in early 15th-century Bohemia. The text of the earlier hymn, "Jesus Christus nostra salus", goes back to the late 14th century. That hymn was embedded in a Hussite tradition.
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.
"Segne dieses Kind" is a poem in six stanzas by Lothar Zenetti. With different melodies, it became a Christian hymn of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied (NGL), appearing in current German hymnals, usually sung for baptism. The full title is "Segne dieses Kind und hilf uns, ihm zu helfen", which is the beginning of all six stanzas.
"Ich will dich lieben, meine Stärke" is a sacred poem by Johann Scheffler who is known by his pen name Angelus Silesius. It appeared first in a poem collection, Heilige Seelen-Lust in 1657, and has become a Christian song in notable hymnals of different denominations, with different melodies.
"Macht hoch die Tür" is a German popular Advent hymn, written in Ducal Prussia in the 17th century. 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.
"Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier" is a German Christmas hymn, with lyrics by Paul Gerhardt which were first published in 1653. It was then sung with an older melody by Martin Luther, but a melody which was likely created by Johann Sebastian Bach for Schemellis Gesangbuch of 1736 is now part of current Protestant and Catholic hymnals.
"Christ fuhr gen Himmel" is a German Ascension hymn. The church song is based the medieval melody of the Easter hymn "Christ ist erstanden". It was an ecumenical song from the beginning, with the first stanza published in 1480, then included in a Lutheran hymnal in 1545, and expanded by the Catholic Johannes Leisentritt in 1567. It appears in modern German Catholic and Protestant hymnals, and has inspired musical settings by composers from the 16th to the 21st century.
"Das ist der Tag, den Gott gemacht" is a German Christian hymn for Easter. In the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob it appears as Gl 329.
"Ein Haus voll Glorie schauet" is a popular German Catholic hymn, frequently sung for the consecration of churches (Kirchweihe) and their anniversaries. Text and tune were created by Joseph Mohr in 1875. It was changed significantly for the version in the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob, with stanzas two to five written by "Hans W. Marx" in 1972. It has inspired musical settings for festive occasions such as the millennium of the Bamberg Cathedral.
"Dein Lob, Herr, ruft der Himmel aus" is a German Catholic hymn. Adolf Lohmann adapted a 1659 hymn by the Jesuit astronomer Albert Curtz, who paraphrased Psalm 19. The melody appeared in Augsburg in 1669. It was No. 1 in the 1938 hymnal Kirchenlied and is part of the German Catholic hymnal Gotteslob as GL 381.
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.
"Herr, wir bringen in Brot und Wein" is a Christian offertory hymn with German text by Hans Bernhard Meyer, and a melody by Peter Janssens. The song, of the genre Neues Geistliches Lied (NGL), is part of German hymnals, including Gotteslob, and songbooks.
Christoph Lehmann is a German organist, harpsichordist, church musician and composer, especially in the field of Neues Geistliches Lied (NGL). He has worked as a continuo harpsichordist and organist in performances and recordings of early music with several ensembles.
Guido Maria Dreves was a German Jesuit, hymnologist and hymnwriter. He was the son of the notary and poet Lebrecht Blücher Dreves.
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"Gegrüßet seist du, Königin" is a Catholic hymn, based on a hymn to Mary in Latin, Salve Regina. Singers call Mary, the mother of Jesus, with many attributes and request her help in the misery of the world. The first version was published in 1687 by Johann Georg Seidenbusch. It became part of hymnals with several melodies. The 2013 common German hymnal Gotteslob has a version in six stanzas as GL 536, with a melody first published in Mainz in 1712. In the U.S., the song became popular with a 1736 melody from Hildesheim.