Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ
Encyclopedia
Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (Praise be to You, Jesus Christ) is a Lutheran chorale
Chorale
A chorale was originally a hymn sung by a Christian congregation. In certain modern usage, this term may also include classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....

 of 1524, with words written by Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

. For centuries the chorale has been the prominent hymn (Hauptlied) for Christmas Day in German speaking Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

, but has also been used in different translations internationally. It has appeared in hymnal
Hymnal
Hymnal or hymnary or hymnbook is a collection of hymns, i.e. religious songs, usually in the form of a book. The earliest hand-written hymnals are known since Middle Ages in the context of European Christianity...

s of various denominations including the Catholic Church.

Text

Luther expanded a pre-Reformation stanza, based on Grates nunc omnes, the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 Sequence
Sequence (poetry)
A sequence is a chant or hymn sung or recited during the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations, before the proclamation of the Gospel. By the time of the Council of Trent there were sequences for many feasts in the Church's year.The sequence has always been sung...

 of the midnight mass for Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

, by six stanzas. Each stanza ends on the acclamation Kyrieleis
Kyrie
Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek κύριε , vocative case of κύριος , meaning "Lord", is the common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, which is also called the Kýrie, eléison ....

. The hymn was published in Eyn Enchiridion in Erfurt in 1524.

Tune

The tune first appeared in Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn, a booklet of spiritual song, collected by Johann Walter
Johann Walter
Johann Walter was a Lutheran composer and poet during the Reformation period.-Life:Walter was born in Kahla, Thuringia in 1496...

. It seems likely that both Luther and Walter collaborated to modify an older melody. In the first verse, the highest notes accentuate important words such as Jesu, Mensch (man), Jungfrau (virgin), Engel (angels).

Musical settings

Balthasar Resinarius composed a chorale motet, printed in 1544. A setting of Walter is dated 1551, Antonio Scandello
Antonio Scandello
Antonio Scandello was an Italian composer, born in Bergamo. He worked as musician at the court of the Electors of Saxony in Dresden. In 1549 he became court-bandmaster, and in 1568 Kapellmeister...

's 1575. Lucas Osiander
Lucas Osiander the Elder
Lucas Osiander the Elder was a German pastor of the Evangelischen Landeskirche in Württemberg. He was a son of the reformer Andreas Osiander and father to Lucas Osiander the Younger....

 wrote a four-part setting in 1586, Erhard Bodenschatz in 1608, Samuel Scheidt
Samuel Scheidt
Samuel Scheidt was a German composer, organist and teacher of the early Baroque era.-Biography:...

 wrote two settings in 1650. A five-part motet of Johannes Eccard was printed in 1597, one of Adam Gumpeltzhaimer
Adam Gumpeltzhaimer
Adam Gumpeltzhaimer was a Bavarian composer and music theorist. Born in Trostberg, he studied music with the monk Jodocus Enzmüller. In 1581 he became cantor at the Augsberg Cathedral; a post he maintained until his death there in 1625. He is best known for his compositions of sacred...

 in Augsburg in 1618, Andreas Raselius wrote a five-part setting in 1610. Melchior Schärer (1570-1602) set the hymn as a motet a capella for three parts, and Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius
Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...

 composed various settings. Johann Hermann Schein wrote a cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

 for three parts in 1618, Johann Crüger
Johann Crüger
Johann Crüger was a German composer of well-known hymns.Crüger was born in Groß Breesen as the son of an innkeeper. He studied at the Lateinschule in Guben until 1613, after which he traveled to Sorau and Breslau and finally to Regensburg, where he received his first musical training from Paulus...

 set it for four voices, two obbligato instrument
Obbligato
In classical music obbligato usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking ad libitum. It can also be used, more specifically, to indicate that a passage of music was to be played exactly as written, or only by the specified...

s (violins) and continuo.

Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

's used single stanzas for Christmas music, he inserted stanza 7 in his cantata
Bach cantata
Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....

 Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget, BWV 64
Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget, BWV 64
Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget , BWV 64, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach...

, written for the Third Day of Christmas 1723, and included in his Christmas Oratorio
Christmas Oratorio
The Christmas Oratorio BWV 248, is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 incorporating music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a...

both stanza 6 in movement 7 in combination with recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...

 and stanza 7 in movement 28. Bach used the complete chorale as the base for his chorale cantata
Chorale cantata
In music, a chorale cantata is a sacred composition for voices and instruments, principally from the German Baroque era, in which the organizing principle is the words and music to a chorale. Usually a chorale cantata is in multiple movements or parts. Most chorale cantatas were written between...

 Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 91
Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 91
Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ , BWV 91, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was written in Leipzig in 1724 for Christmas Day and first performed on 25 December 1724.-History and words:...

, composed in Leipzig for the Christmas Day of 1724.

Cantatas were composed by Gottfried August Homilius
Gottfried August Homilius
Gottfried August Homilius was a German composer, cantor, and organist. He was the main representative of the empfindsamer style....

, Friedrich Zelle (1845-1927), and Kurt Hessenberg
Kurt Hessenberg
Kurt Hessenberg was a German composer and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main.- Life :...

, who wrote in 1935 a chorale cantata for mixed chorus, two solo voices, organ and orchestra, op. 9.

The hymn inspired organ settings by Protestant Baroque composers such as Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude was a German-Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period. His organ works represent a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and in church services...

, Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most...

, Georg Böhm
Georg Böhm
Georg Böhm was a German Baroque organist and composer. He is notable for his development of the chorale partita and for his influence on the young J. S. Bach.-Life:Böhm was born in 1661 in Hohenkirchen, near Ohrdruf...

, Bach, Homilius, Johann Christoph Altnikol and Johann Philipp Kirnberger.

External links

O Jesus Christ, All Praise to Thee
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