The St Matthew Passion, BWV 244, is a Passion, a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets the 26th and 27th chapters of the Gospel of Matthew to music, with interspersed chorales and arias. It is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of Baroque sacred music. The original Latin title Passio Domini nostri J.C. secundum Evangelistam Matthæum translates to "The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Evangelist Matthew".
Paul Godwin (1902–1982) was a violinist and the leader of a popular German dance orchestra in the 1920s and 30s.
An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98, is a composition by Ludwig van Beethoven written in April 1816, setting poetry by Alois Jeitteles.
"The Faithful Hussar" is a German song based on a folk song known in various versions since the 19th century. In its current standard form, it is a song from the Cologne Carnival since the 1920s.
The Symphony No. 8 "Lieder der Vergänglichkeit" by Krzysztof Penderecki is a choral symphony in twelve relatively short movements set to 19th and early 20th-century German poems. The work was completed and premiered in 2005. The symphony has an approximate duration of 35 minutes. Penderecki revised the symphony in 2007 by adding a few more poem settings and the piece has expanded to around 50 minutes. Although given the designation Symphony No. 8, it was not actually the final symphony Penderecki completed before his death in March 2020; the Sixth Symphony, begun in 2008, was not completed until 2017.
Bruckner's Psalm 114, WAB 36, is a psalm setting of verses 1 to 9 of a German version of Psalm 116, which is Psalm 114 in the Vulgata.
Johann Wilhelm Hill was a German pianist and composer.
"Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud" is a summer hymn with a text in German by theologian Paul Gerhardt written in 1653. It was first published that same year in the fifth edition of Johann Crüger's hymnal Praxis pietatis melica. It was sung to several melodies, the most popular one composed by August Harder, and later became a Volkslied in an abridged version.
Franz Schubert's best-known music for the theatre is his incidental music for Rosamunde. Less successful were his many opera and Singspiel projects. On the other hand, some of his most popular Lieder, like "Gretchen am Spinnrade," were based on texts written for the theatre.
Franz Schubert's best known song cycles, like Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise are based on separate poems with a common theme and narrative. Other song cycles are based on consecutive excerpts of the same literary work: Schubert's "Ave Maria" is part of such a song cycle based on excerpts of the same poem, in this case by Walter Scott.
"Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein", or “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice” in English, is a Lutheran hymn, written in 1523 by Martin Luther. It is one of Luther's early hymns and considered by some as one of his finest. It was published as one of eight songs in 1524 in the first Lutheran hymnal, the Achtliederbuch. The Achtliederbuch contained four songs by Luther, three by Speratus, and one by Justus Jonas. It appeared also in 1524 in the Erfurt Enchiridion.
Spanisches Liederbuch is a collection of 44 Lieder by Hugo Wolf (1860–1903). They were composed between October 1889 and April 1890, and published in 1891. The words are translations into German by Emanuel Geibel (1815–84) and Paul Heyse (1830–1914) of Spanish and Portuguese poems and folk songs, published in a collection of 1852 also called Spanisches Liederbuch.
"Ännchen von Tharau" is a 17-stanza poem by the East Prussian poet Simon Dach. The namesake of the poem is Anna Neander (1615–1689), the daughter of a parson from Tharau, East Prussia. The poem was written on the occasion of her marriage in 1636 and had been set to music as a song by 1642.
"Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit" is a Lutheran hymn in German. The text from c. 1550 is attributed to Albert, Duke of Prussia. The melody, Zahn No. 7568, goes back to a tune by Claudin de Sermisy, written in 1529 for a secular French song. The hymn has belonged to core Lutheran hymnody without interruption and is part of the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch as EG 364.
"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.
