27 May 1676 A.D. Mr. (Rev.) Paul Gerhardt Passes--Lutheran Theologian & Hymn Writer.
We used Mr. Gerhardt’s wonderful hymn
in Easter week, 2014. Four verses of “O
Sacred Head Now Wounded” in the Episcopal hymnal (1982) were attributed to Mr.
Gerhardt. The exception was the fifth verse
by the Presbyterian Biblical scholar, James Waddell Alexander, the son of
Princeton Seminary’s first president and professor, Archibald Alexander. Here is one rendition from King’s College,
Cambridge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2qt2d-k2_o
Wikipedia carries some insights to Mr.
Gerhardt.
Contents
Biography
Gerhardt was born into a middle-class family at Gräfenhainichen, a small town between Halle and Wittenberg. At the age of fifteen, he entered the Fürstenschule in Grimma. The school was known for its pious atmosphere and stern discipline. The school almost closed in 1626 when the plague came to Grimma, but Paul remained and graduated from there in 1627. In January 1628 he enrolled in the University of Wittenberg. There, two teachers in particular had an influence on him: Paul Röber and Jacob Martini. Both of these men were staunch Lutherans, promoting its teachings not only in the classroom but in sermons and hymns. Röber in particular often took his sermon texts from hymns. In this way Gerhardt was taught the use of hymnody as a tool of pastoral care and instruction.
Paul
Gerhardt, posthumous portrait circa 1700 from the church in Lübben (Spreewald)
Gerhardt graduated from the University of
Wittenberg around 1642. Due to the troubles of the Thirty
Years War it seems he was not immediately placed as a pastor, and
thus moved to Berlin where he worked as tutor
in the family of an advocate named Andreas Barthold. During his time in Berlin
his hymns and poems brought him to the attention of Johann
Crüger the cantor and organist at the Nicolaikirche in Berlin.
Crüger was impressed by Gerhardt's hymns and included eighteen of them in his
"Praxis pietatis melica" (1656). The hymns proved popular, and
Gerhardt and Crüger began a collaboration and friendship that continued for
many years.
In September 1651, Gerhardt received
his first ecclesiastical appointment as the new Probst at Mittenwalde (a small town near Berlin) in 1651. It was during his time in Mittenwalde
when he composed most of his hymns. Also while there he married Anna Maria
Barthold, one of the daughters of Andreas Barthold. Their first child was born
there in 1656, but died in infancy; a memorial tablet in the church shows their
grief.
While Gerhardt was a devoted pastor in
Mittenwalde it appears he missed Berlin. In 1657 he was called to be a Deacon
(Associate Pastor) to the Nikolaikirche of Berlin. He seems to have had some hesitancy about leaving Mittenwalde
since it was only after long deliberation he accepted the appointment.
When Gerhardt came to Berlin he found
a city full of strife between the Lutheran and Reformed clergy. The Elector at
the time was Friedrich Wilhelm I
of Brandenburg, who was Reformed. He wanted to make
peace between the clerical factions, but being Reformed himself concentrated
most of efforts on making his lands more Calvinist. He placed only Reformed
pastors into parishes, removed the Lutheran professors from the University of
Frankfurt and forbade students from his lands to study at the University of
Wittenberg.
He also sponsored a series of
conferences between the Lutheran and Reformed clergy in the hopes of having
them arrive at some consensus, but the result was the opposite: the more the
two sides argued the further apart they found themselves. Gerhardt was a
leading voice among the Lutheran clergy, and drew up many of the statements in
defense of the Lutheran faith. At the same time he was renowned for acting fraternally
not only with the Lutherans but also with the Reformed clergy; he was respected
and very well liked by all. His sermons and devotional writings were so free
from controversy that many Reformed attended his services, and the wife of the
Elector, Louisa Henrietta, was a great admirer of him and his hymns.
The Elector, however, was growing
impatient with a lack of success at his conferences. He put an end to them in
1664 and published his "syncretistic" edict. Since
the edict disallowed the Formula of Concord,
one of the Lutheran Confessions as contained in the Book
of Concord, many Lutheran clergy could not bring themselves to
comply with the edict. Gerhardt was thus removed from his position in 1666.
The citizens of Berlin petitioned to
have him restored, and owing to their repeated requests an exception to the
edict was made for Gerhardt, although his conscience did not allow him to
retain a post which, appeared to him, could only be held on condition of a
tacit repudiation of the Formula of Concord.
For over a year he lived in Berlin without fixed employment. During this time
his wife also died, leaving him with only one surviving child. Ironically the
edict was withdrawn a few months later, although by this time his patroness,
Electress Louisa Henrietta had died and so he was still without a position. In
October 1668 he was called as archdeacon of Lübben
in the duchy of Saxe-Merseburg, where, after a
ministry of eight years, he died on 27 May 1676.
Gerhardt is considered Germany's
greatest hymn writer. Many of his best-known hymns were originally published in
various church hymnbooks, as for example in that for Brandenburg, which
appeared in 1658; others first saw the light in Johann
Crüger's Geistliche Kirchenmelodien (1649) and Praxis
pietatis melica (1656). The first complete collection is the Geistliche
Andachten, published in 1666-1667 by Ebeling, music director in Berlin. No
hymn by Gerhardt of a later date than 1667 is known to exist.
The life of Gerhardt has been written
by Roth (1829), by Langbecker (1841), by Schultz (1842), by Wildenhahn (1845)
and by Bachmann (1863); also by Kraft in Ersch's und Gruber's Allg. Encyc
(1855). A short biography was also done by William Dallmann, reprinted in 2003.
The best modern edition of the hymns, published by Wackernagel in 1843, has
often been reprinted. There is an English translation by Kelly (Paul
Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs, 1867).
Commemoration
Paul Gerhardt is commemorated on 26
October in the Calendar of Saints used by some Lutheran churchess in the United
States, on which day the achievements of Philipp
Nicolai and Johann
Heermann are also commemorated.
Selected works
The following list shows several songs
by Gerhardt, with a translation of the first line, base, liturgical occasion,
the number in the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches
Gesangbuch (de) (EG) and the Catholic "Gotteslob (de) (GL), use in Bachs works,
and notes. Johann Sebastian Bach used several single stanzas in cantatas, motets, in his Christmas Oratorio and Passions, and the complete hymn
"Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn" as the base for chorale cantatas BWV
92. BWV
numbers between 1 and 200 are cantatas, BWV 245 the St John Passion (1724), BWV 244 the St Matthew Passion (1727), BWV 243 the Christmas Oratorio]] (1934).
- "Auf, auf, mein Herz, mit Freuden nimm wahr, was heut geschicht", Easter, EG 112
- "Barmherzger Vater, höchster Gott", BWV 103
- "Befiehl du deine Wege (de)", based on Psalm 37, EG 361, BWV 244, BWV 153
- "Die güldne Sonne", EG 449
- "Du meine Seele singe", EG 302
- "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld", Passion, EG 83
- "Fröhlich soll mein Herze springen", Christmas, EG 36
- "Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud (de)", EG 503
- "Gott Vater, sende deinen Geist", BWV 74, BWV 108
- "Herr, mein Hirt, Brunn aller Freuden!", BWV 228
- "Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn", chorale cantata BWV 92, BWV 65
- "Ich singe dir mit Herz und Mund", EG 324
- "Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier (de)", Christmas, EG 37, BWV 243
- "Ist Gott für mich, so trete", "If Jesus be my friend" (1855 by Catherine Winkworth), EG 351
- "Kommt und laßt uns Christum ehren (de)", Christmas, EG 39
- "Lobet den Herren alle, die ihn ehren", EG 447, GL 671
- "Nun danket all und bringet Ehr", EG 322, GL 267
- "Nun lasst uns gehn und treten (de), New Year, EG 58
- "Nun ruhen alle Wälder (de), EG 477[1]
- "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden", "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded", Passion, EG 85, GL 179, BWV 244, BWV 159
- "O Welt, sieh hier dein Leben", Passion, EG 84, BWV 245, BWV 244
- "Schwing dich auf zu deinem Gott", BWV 40
- "Sollt ich meinem Gott nicht singen", EG 325
- "Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe", EG 446
- "Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen?", EG 370
- "Was alle Weisheit in der Welt", BWV 176
- "Weg, mein Herz, mit den Gedanken", BWV 32
- "Wie soll ich dich empfangen (de)", Advent, EG 11, BWV 243
- "Zeuch ein zu deinen Toren", Pentecost, EG 133, BWV 183
References
1.
Jump up ^ Klaus Rösler: Artikel: Elstaler
Hymnologe zur Buchstabensymbolik in Paul Gerhardts Gedichten, in:
Zeitschrift Die Gemeinde, 27 May 2008
This article incorporates text from a publication now in
the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gerhardt, Paul". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links
 |
Wikiquote has a collection
of quotations related to: Paul Gerhardt
|
- Paul Gerhardt 1607-1676 from The Cyber Hymnal
- Theodore Brown Hewitt. Paul Gerhardt as a Hymn Writer and His Influence on English Hymnody New Haven: Yale University Press. 1918
- In Behalf of Paul Gerhardt and the Elenchus
- Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs, trans. J. Kelly, 80 pages, 1867.
- "Gerhardt, Paul". Encyclopedia
Americana. 1920.
- "Gerhardt, Paulus". New
International Encyclopedia. 1906.
- Paul-Gerhardt-Gemeinde Mannheim
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