' ("A spiritual song booklet"), sometimes called First Wittenberg Hymnal and ' (Choir hymnal), was the first German

hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Chr ...

for choir, published in

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north of ...

in 1524 by Johann Walter who collaborated with

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

. It contains 32 sacred songs, including 24 by Luther, in settings by Walter for three to five parts with the melody in the tenor. Luther wrote a preface for the part books. The collection has been called the root of all Protestant song music.

History

used hymns in German to affirm his ideas of

reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

and to have the congregation actively take part in church services. ' was the third German hymnal, after the "", published in Nürnberg by Jobst Gutnecht, and the " Erfurt Enchiridion", published in Erfurt, both also dating from 1524. ' was published in

and is often referred to as the first Wittenberg hymnal. It came with a foreword by

: The collection was the first German collection of hymns for choir and was published in

in 1524 by Johann Walter, who collaborated with Luther. The hymnal comprised originally 32 songs, 24 of which were written by Luther, including "" and "". The settings are for three, four, and five parts ( SATTB), with the melody in the

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

. Nine of the songs are psalms paraphrased in metric stanzas, such as "", a paraphrase of Psalm 130. The order of the songs does not seem to follow a plan, but groupings are apparent, such as Latin songs being placed at the end, preceded by five songs about the topics of the creed and the Trinity: # (Luther) # (Luther) # (Speratus) # (Speratus) # (Speratus) Four of the songs had been part of the ', the first Lutheran hymnal. Luther continued to revise and enlarge the 1524 "Wittenberg hymnal", adding more songs, and it was reprinted in 1529, 1531, 1533, 1535, and 1543. This culminated in an edition titled ''Geystliche Lieder'', prefaced by Luther and published by Valentin Babst in Leipzig in 1545 shortly before Luther's death. Contemporaneous editions of hymnals for lay people followed the organization of Luther's choral "Wittenberg hymnal" rather closely. For example, the Wittenberg Enchiridion of 1526 (full title ''Enchyridion of Spiritual Songs and Psalms for the Laity, Improved with Many More than Previously''). contained ten more songs, with seven of them placed at the end and two others following a song with the same melody. This edition was copied in hymnals in Zurich in 1528 and in Leipzig in 1530. ' has been called the root of all Protestant song music ("Grundstock aller evangelischer Liedmusik").

Editions

* Walter, Johann / Kade, Otto
Wittembergisch Geistlich Gesangbuch
von 1524; zu drei, vier und fünf Stimmen, Neue Partitur-Ausgabe nebst Klavierauszug / von

Otto Kade Otto Kade (6 May 1819 – 19 July 1900) was a German musicologist, organist, conductor and composer. Life and career Kade was born in Dresden. After graduating from the Kreuzschule, Kade studied harmony and counterpoint with the Kreuzkantor ...

, Berlin, 1878 (Digitalisat)

References

External links

*
Walter, Johann ¬: Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn
stimmbuecher.digitale-sammlungen.de
Luther’s Preface to the Wittenberg Hymnal
gnesiolutheran.com
Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017 16th century in music Lutheran hymnals 1524 books 16th-century Christian texts

History

Editions

See also

References

External links