The
Wessobrunn Prayer (or
Wessobrunner Gebet in
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
), sometimes called the
Wessobrunn Creation Poem (
"Wessobrunner Schöpfungsgedicht"), believed to date from c790, is among the earliest known poetic works in
Old High GermanThe term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
.
The poem is named after the monastery at
WessobrunnWessobrunn Abbey was a Benedictine monastery near Weilheim in Bavaria, Germany.It is celebrated as the home of the famous Wessobrunn Prayer and also of a Baroque school of stucco workers and plasterers in the 18th century....
in
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, for centuries the repository of the sole manuscript, which is now in the
Bavarian State LibraryThe Bavarian State Library in Munich is the central "Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria and one of Europe's most important universal libraries. With its collections currently comprising around 9.39 million books, it ranks among the best research libraries...
in
MunichMunich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/ (ref: Clm 22053, III, ff 65b/66a).
The date of composition is put at around 790 or a little later, while the surviving manuscript dates from about 814.
The
Wessobrunn Prayer (or
Wessobrunner Gebet in
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
), sometimes called the
Wessobrunn Creation Poem (
"Wessobrunner Schöpfungsgedicht"), believed to date from c790, is among the earliest known poetic works in
Old High GermanThe term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
.
Origins
The poem is named after the monastery at
WessobrunnWessobrunn Abbey was a Benedictine monastery near Weilheim in Bavaria, Germany.It is celebrated as the home of the famous Wessobrunn Prayer and also of a Baroque school of stucco workers and plasterers in the 18th century....
in
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, for centuries the repository of the sole manuscript, which is now in the
Bavarian State LibraryThe Bavarian State Library in Munich is the central "Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria and one of Europe's most important universal libraries. With its collections currently comprising around 9.39 million books, it ranks among the best research libraries...
in
MunichMunich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/ (ref: Clm 22053, III, ff 65b/66a).
The date of composition is put at around 790 or a little later, while the surviving manuscript dates from about 814. The author of the verses is unknown, although from the content and a couple of linguistic features (see below), it seems highly probable that it was composed after an Anglo-Saxon model for use in the
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
missions to the heathen taking place in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
at this time.
The place of origin of the manuscript is also unknown. It was not written in Wessobrunn; a number of Bavarian religious establishments could have produced it, the most likely being
AugsburgAugsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria in Germany. It is a College town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
or
RegensburgRegensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
. The conspicuous oddity in this manuscript of the use of the star-rune as a shorthand symbol for the syllable "ga-" is shared by only one other manuscript, also Bavarian, viz., Arundel MS. 393 in the
British LibraryThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is located in London and is one of the world's largest research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; books, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, patents,...
.
Description
The poem is in two sections: the first is a praise of creation in nine lines of
alliterativeAlliteration is a literary or rhetorical stylistic device that consists in repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words in close succession...
verse, and the second is the actual prayer, in free prose. The two together constitute a prayer for the wisdom and strength to avoid sin.
The two-part structure is reminiscent of Germanic magic spells (as evidenced for example in the
Merseburg SpellsThe Merseburg Incantations are two medieval magic spells, charms or incantations, written in Old High German. They are the only known examples of Germanic pagan belief preserved in this language...
): a transcendental precedent is first evoked (in this instance the gift of creation made to human beings by the Creator),
according to the pattern of which the thing prayed for may be performed.
Some features in the first section reflect the language and idiom of Old German oral epics, using stem- and introductory formulae known from the
Anglo-SaxonAnglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading Germanic tribes in the south and east of Great Britain from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, to the Norman conquest of 1066...
and
Old SaxonOld Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is the earliest recorded form of Low German, documented from the 8th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German. It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany and in Denmark by Saxon peoples...
traditions (
manno miltisto,
dat gafregin ih). The concept of creation from nothing (
creatio ex nihilo) described here is however genuinely
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
. It has been speculated that the first five lines may once have been, or formed part of, an independent cosmogony.
Text
| Original text |
English translation |
De Poeta
Dat gafregin ih mit firahim firiuuizzo meista
Dat ero ni uuas noh ufhimil
noh paum noh pereg ni uuas
ni [...] nohheinig noh sunna ni scein
noh mano ni liuhta noh der mareo seo
Do dar niuuiht ni uuas enteo ni uuenteo
enti do uuas der eino almahtico cot
manno miltisto enti dar uuarun auh manake mit inan
cootlihhe geista enti cot heilac [...]
Cot almahtico, du himil enti erda gauuorahtos enti du mannun so manac coot forgapi forgip mir in dina ganada rehta galaupa enti cotan uuilleon uuistom enti spahida enti craft tiuflun za uuidarstantanne enti arc za piuuisanne enti dinan uuilleon za gauurchanne |
Of the Creator
This I learnt among mortal men as the greatest wonder
That there was neither the earth nor the heaven above
Nor was there any tree nor mountain
Neither any [star] at all, nor did the sun shine
Nor the moon gleam, nor [was there] the glorious sea.
When there was nothing, no ending and no limits,
There was the One Almighty God
Of all beings the greatest in grace, and many with him,
Good spirits, and God [is] holy.
Almighty God, Who created heaven and earth and gave so much good to men, in Your grace give me right belief and good will, wisdom, wit and strength to resist devils and turn from evil and do Your will.
|
Adaptations
The poem has been set to music many times in the 20th century. Arrangements include those by
Heinrich KaminskiHeinrich Kaminski was a German composer.- Life :Kaminski was born in Tiengen in the Schwarzwald, the son of an Old Catholic priest of Jewish parentage. After a short period working in a bank in Offenbach, he moved to Heidelberg, originally to study politics...
as part of the work
Triptychon for voice and organ, 1931, and by his pupil
Carl OrffCarl Orff was a 20th-century German composer, best known for his oratorio Carmina Burana . In addition to his career as a composer, Orff developed an influential method of music education for children.-Early life:...
, published as part of the series
Schulwerk, 1950-54. Other settings include those by Hans Josef Wedig, op. 11, (Version 1)(1937), for male choir and organ, and the
motetIn Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is "motectum", and the Italian mottetto was...
Mir gestand der Sterblichen Staunen als der Wunder grösstes... (a translation of the opening line of the prayer in modern
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
by Leopold Katt (d 1965).
More recent interpretations by composers in the classical tradition include those by
Felix WerderFelix Werder is an Australian-based German composer of classical and electronic music; also a noted critic and educator. The son of a distinguished liturgical composer, he has composed all his life; he has an international reputation and is one of Australia's most performed composers...
in 1975 for voice and small orchestra, and by
Michael RadulescuMichael Radulescu is a Romanian-German composer, organist, and professor.He was born to a Romanian father and an German mother. He studied with Anton Heiller and Hans Swarowsky at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria....
in two works:
De Poëta in 1988 for four choirs and bells, and in another arrangement of 1991 re-worked in 1998 for soprano and organ.
One of the most unusual settings is by the German composer Helmut Lachenmann in his
Consolation II (1968) in which component phonetic parts of the words of the prayer are vocalised separately by the 16 solo voices in a texture of vocal 'music concrete'.
The
Wessobrunner Gebet has also been set by the German mediaevally-inspired groups
EstampieThe medieval dance and musical form called the estampie in French, the estampida in Occitan, and istampitta in Italian was a popular instrumental style of the 13th and 14th centuries....
on their CD
Fin Amor (2002) and
In Extremo"In Extremo" is a German medieval metal band originating from Berlin. The band's musical style combines metal with medieval traditional songs, blending the sound of the standard rock/metal instruments with historical instruments...
on theirs,
Mein rasend HerzMein Rasend Herz is a fifth folk metal album by the German band In Extremo. It was released on May 30 2005 by Island Records and entered the German Media Control Charts at #3, its eventual peak position. It was preceded by the singles Nur Ihr Allein , Horizont , and Liam , all featured on this album...
(2005).
External links
E-Text of the Wessobrunner Prayer (Bibliotheca Augustana)