Henriette Katharina von Gersdorf › Hymnals

Gersdorf, Henrietta Catharine von, daughter of Baron Carl von Friesen, was born at Sulzbach, near Amberg, Bavaria, Oct. 6, 1648. In 1672 she married Baron Nicolaus von Gersdorf, of Dresden; and after his death, in 1702, retired to her estate of Grosshennersdorf, near Herrnhut, Saxony, where she for some time superintended the education of her grandson, Count N. L. von Zinzendorf; and where she died March 6, 1726.

Her hymns, which are among the best of the period, appeared principally in the Löbau Gesang-Buch, 1725, and her Geistliche Singe-Stunden, Löbau, n. d., 1725, and were collected in her Geistreiche Lieder undpoetische Betrachtungen, Halle, 1729. Through J. J. Rambach's Haus Gesang-Buch, 1735, and the Hannover Gesang-Buch, 1740, some 30 have passed into German use.

Two have been translated into English:—
i. Ein Jahr der Sterblichkeit. New Year. In the Löbau Gesang-Buch, 1725, No. 536, in 11 stanzas, repeated 1729, p. 21. Translated as, "Another year of mortal life," by Dr. G. Walker, 1860, p. 63.
ii. Was darfat du, blödes Herz. Lent. 1729, p. 70, in 16 stanzas, entitled, "On the Grace of Justification." Translated as “What meanest thou, my soul," by Dr. H. Mills, 1845 (1856, p. 56). [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology