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Johann Crüger

1598 - 1662 Person Name: Johann Crüger, 1598-1662 Composer of "WIE SOLL ICH DICH EMPFANGEN" in Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church Johann Crüger (b. Grossbriesen, near Guben, Prussia, Germany, 1598; d. Berlin, Germany, 1662) Crüger attended the Jesuit College at Olmutz and the Poets' School in Regensburg, and later studied theology at the University of Wittenberg. He moved to Berlin in 1615, where he published music for the rest of his life. In 1622 he became the Lutheran cantor at the St. Nicholas Church and a teacher for the Gray Cloister. He wrote music instruction manuals, the best known of which is Synopsis musica (1630), and tirelessly promoted congregational singing. With his tunes he often included elaborate accompaniment for various instruments. Crüger's hymn collection, Neues vollkomliches Gesangbuch (1640), was one of the first hymnals to include figured bass accompaniment (musical shorthand) with the chorale melody rather than full harmonization written out. It included eighteen of Crüger's tunes. His next publication, Praxis Pietatis Melica (1644), is considered one of the most important collections of German hymnody in the seventeenth century. It was reprinted forty-four times in the following hundred years. Another of his publications, Geistliche Kirchen Melodien (1649), is a collection arranged for four voices, two descanting instruments, and keyboard and bass accompaniment. Crüger also published a complete psalter, Psalmodia sacra (1657), which included the Lobwasser translation set to all the Genevan tunes. Bert Polman =============================== Crüger, Johann, was born April 9, 1598, at Gross-Breese, near Guben, Brandenburg. After passing through the schools at Guben, Sorau and Breslau, the Jesuit College at Olmütz, and the Poets' school at Regensburg, he made a tour in Austria, and, in 1615, settled at Berlin. There, save for a short residence at the University of Wittenberg, in 1620, he employed himself as a private tutor till 1622. In 1622 he was appointed Cantor of St. Nicholas's Church at Berlin, and also one of the masters of the Greyfriars Gymnasium. He died at Berlin Feb. 23, 1662. Crüger wrote no hymns, although in some American hymnals he appears as "Johann Krüger, 1610,” as the author of the supposed original of C. Wesley's "Hearts of stone relent, relent" (q.v.). He was one of the most distinguished musicians of his time. Of his hymn tunes, which are generally noble and simple in style, some 20 are still in use, the best known probably being that to "Nun danket alle Gott" (q.v.), which is set to No. 379 in Hymns Ancient & Modern, ed. 1875. His claim to notice in this work is as editor and contributor to several of the most important German hymnological works of the 16th century, and these are most conveniently treated of under his name. (The principal authorities on his works are Dr. J. F. Bachmann's Zur Geschichte der Berliner Gesangbücher 1857; his Vortrag on P. Gerhard, 1863; and his edition of Gerhardt's Geistliche Lieder, 1866. Besides these there are the notices in Bode, and in R. Eitner's Monatshefte für Musik-Geschichte, 1873 and 1880). These works are:— 1. Newes vollkömmliches Gesangbuch, Augspur-gischer Confession, &c, Berlin, 1640 [Library of St. Nicholas's Church, Berlin], with 248 hymns, very few being published for the first time. 2. Praxis pietatis melica. Das ist: Ubung der Gottseligkeit in Christlichen und trostreichen Gesängen. The history of this, the most important work of the century, is still obscure. The 1st edition has been variously dated 1640 and 1644, while Crüger, in the preface to No. 3, says that the 3rd edition appeared in 1648. A considerable correspondence with German collectors and librarians has failed to bring to light any of the editions which Koch, iv. 102, 103, quotes as 1644, 1647, 1649, 1650, 1651, 1652, 1653. The imperfect edition noted below as probably that of 1648 is the earliest Berlin edition we have been able to find. The imperfect edition, probably ix. of 1659, formerly in the hands of Dr. Schneider of Schleswig [see Mützell, 1858, No. 264] was inaccessible. The earliest perfect Berlin edition we have found is 1653. The edition printed at Frankfurt in 1656 by Caspar Röteln was probably a reprint of a Berlin edition, c. 1656. The editions printed at Frankfurt-am-Main by B. C. Wust (of which the 1666 is in the preface described as the 3rd) are in considerable measure independent works. In the forty-five Berlin and over a dozen Frankfurt editions of this work many of the hymns of P. Gerhardt, J. Franck, P. J. Spener, and others, appear for the first time, and therein also appear many of the best melodies of the period. 3. Geistliche Kirchen-Melodien, &c, Leipzig, 1649 [Library of St. Katherine's Church, Brandenburg]. This contains the first stanzas only of 161 hymns, with music in four vocal and two instrumental parts. It is the earliest source of the first stanzas of various hymns by Gerhardt, Franck, &c. 4. D. M. Luther's und anderer vornehmen geisU reichen und gelehrten Manner Geistliche Lieder und Psalmen, &c, Berlin, 1653 [Hamburg Town Library], with 375 hymns. This was edited by C. Runge, the publisher, and to it Crüger contributed some 37 melodies. It was prepared at the request of Luise Henriette (q.v.), as a book for the joint use of the Lutherans and the Re¬formed, and is the earliest source of the hymns ascribed to her, and of the complete versions of many hymns by Gerhardt and Franck. 5. Psalmodia Sacra, &c, Berlin, 1658 [Royal Library, Berlin]. The first section of this work is in an ed. of A. Lobwasser's German Psalter; the second, with a similar title to No. 4, and the date 1657, is practically a recast of No. 4,146 of those in 1653 being omitted, and the rest of the 319 hymns principally taken from the Praxis of 1656 and the hymn-books of the Bohemian Brethren. New eds. appeared in 1676, 1700, 1704, 1711, and 1736. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] -- Excerpt from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ======================= Crüger, Johann, p. 271, ii. Dr. J. Zahn, now of Neuendettelsau, in Bavaria, has recently acquired a copy of the 5th ed., Berlin, 1653, of the Praxis. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Joseph Barnby

1838 - 1896 Composer of "ST. ANSELM" in The Cyber Hymnal Joseph Barnby (b. York, England, 1838; d. London, England, 1896) An accomplished and popular choral director in England, Barby showed his musical genius early: he was an organist and choirmaster at the age of twelve. He became organist at St. Andrews, Wells Street, London, where he developed an outstanding choral program (at times nicknamed "the Sunday Opera"). Barnby introduced annual performances of J. S. Bach's St. John Passion in St. Anne's, Soho, and directed the first performance in an English church of the St. Matthew Passion. He was also active in regional music festivals, conducted the Royal Choral Society, and composed and edited music (mainly for Novello and Company). In 1892 he was knighted by Queen Victoria. His compositions include many anthems and service music for the Anglican liturgy, as well as 246 hymn tunes (published posthumously in 1897). He edited four hymnals, including The Hymnary (1872) and The Congregational Sunday School Hymnal (1891), and coedited The Cathedral Psalter (1873). Bert Polman

Johann Walter

1496 - 1570 Person Name: Johann Walther, 1496-1570 Author of "Thy Word, O God, Declareth" in The Cyber Hymnal Johann Walther (b. Kahla, Thuringia, Germany, 1496: d. Torgau, Germany, 1570) was one of the great early influences in Lutheran church music. At first he seemed destined to be primarily a court musician. A singer in the choir of the Elector of Saxony in the Torgau court in 1521, he became the court's music director in 1525. After the court orchestra was disbanded in 1530 and reconstituted by the town, Walther became cantor at the local school in 1534 and directed the music in several churches. He served the Elector of Saxony at the Dresden court from 1548 to 1554 and then retired in Torgau. Walther met Martin Luther in 1525 and lived with him for three weeks to help in the preparation of Luther's German Mass. In 1524 Walther published the first edition of a collection of German hymns, Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn. This collection and several later hymnals compiled by Walther went through many later editions and made a permanent impact on Lutheran hymnody. Bert Polman ================ Walther, Johann, was born in 1496 at a village near Cola (perhaps Kahla, or else Colleda, near Sachsenburg) in Thuringia. In 1524 we find him at Torgau, as bassist at the court of Friedrich the Wise, Elector of Saxony. The Elector Johann of Saxony made him "Sengermeister" (choirmaster) in 1526. When the Electoral orchestra (Kapelle) at Torgau was disbanded in 1530, it was reconstituted by the town, and in 1534 Walther was also appointed cantor (singing-master) to the school at Torgau. On the accession of the Elector Moritz of Saxony, in 1548, Walther went with him to Dresden as his Kapellmeister. He was pensioned by decree of Aug. 7, 1554, and soon after returned to Torgau, still retaining the title of "Sengermeister." He died at Torgau, perhaps on March 25, or at least before April 24, 1570. (Monatshefte für Musikgeschichte, 1871, p. 8, and 1878, p. 85; Archiv für Litteraturgeschichte, vol. xii., 1884, p. 185; Dr. Otto Taubert's Pflege der Musilz in Torgau, 1868, and his Gymnasial Singe-Chor zu Torgau, n.d., 1870, &c.) Walther was more distinguished as a musician than as a hymnwriter. In 1524 he spent three weeks in Luther's house at Wittenberg, helping to adapt the old church music to the Lutheran services, and harmonising the tunes in five parts for the Geystliche gesangk Bucklyn, published at Wittenberg in 1524. He was also present in the Stadtkirche at Wittenberg, when, on Oct. 29, 1525, the service for the Holy Communion, as rearranged by Luther and himself, was first used in German. His hymns appeared mostly in his Das christlich Kinderlied D. Martini Lutheri, Erhalt uns Herr, &c. Auffs new in sechs Stimmen gesetzt, und rait etlichen schönen Christlichen Texten, Lateinischen und Teutschen Gesengen gemehrt, &c, Wittenberg. Those of Walther's hymns which have passed into English are:— i. Herzlich Lieb hab ich dich, mein Gott. Trinity Sunday. First published in 1566 as above, and thence in Wackernage, iii. p. 204, in 4 stanzas of 8 lines. Translated as:— 0 God, my Rock! my heart on Thee. This is a good translation of stanza i., iii., iv., by A. T. Russell, as No. 133 in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851. ii. Herzlich thut mich erfreuen. Eternal Life. First published separately, in 33 stanzas, at Wittenberg, in 1552, entitled "A beautiful spiritual and Christian new miner's song, of the Last Day and Eternal Life" [Konigsberg Library]. Thence in Wackernagel, iii. p. 187, in 34 stanzas, stanza 33 being added from the Dresden reprint of 1557. It is set to the melody of a popular song on the Joys of Summer. It is a fresh and beautiful hymn, but is only partially available on account of its length. Translated as:— 1. Now fain my joyous heart would sing. This is a translation of stanza 1, 4, 5, 17, 33, 34, by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica 2nd Ser., 1858, p. 223. Her translations of stanzas 1, 4, 5, were included in the English Presbyterian Psalms & Hymns, 1867, No. 325. 2. Soon will the heavenly Bridegroom come. This is by Dr. Kennedy, in his Hymn. Christanza, 1863, No. 1009, and follows the text of the Geistliche Lieder omitting stanza 16, 18, 13. It is repeated in the Laudes Domini, N. Y., 1884, &c. 3. The Bridegroom soon will call us. By Dr. M. Loy, from the Geistliche Lieder, but omitting stanzas 18, 13, as No. 24 in the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A. ] --Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)