Die sonntags evangelia von Nicolaus Herman 002

Nikolaus Herman (first name also ''Nicolaus'' or ''Niklas''; 1500 – 3 May 1561) was a German

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

and teacher, creating numerous Protestant

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...

s. Some of them are contained in hymnals in several languages.

Career

Herman was born in Altdorf. In 1518 he came as cantor and teacher at the Latin School of Joachimsthal (now

Jáchymov Jáchymov (); german: Sankt Joachimsthal or ''Joachimsthal'') is a spa town in Karlovy Vary District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,300 inhabitants. The historical core of the town from the 16th century is we ...

, Bohemia). He was a supporter of the

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 ...

; a letter of

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 ...

to him is dated 6 November 1524. He collaborated with people such as

Johannes Mathesius Johannes Mathesius (June 24, 1504 – October 7, 1565), also called Johann Mathesius or John Mathesius, was a German minister and a Lutheran reformer. He is best known for his compilation of Martin Luther's '' Table Talk'', or notes taken of ...

, who served there from 1532 as principal of the school, and from 1540 as a pastor. On 24 June 1557 Herman retired. He published his hymns, which he wrote primarily for teaching children, in 1560 under the title (The Sundays' Gospels through the year in songs written for the children and Christian fathers).

Hymns

Several of his hymns are part of present-day

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 ...

s, such as the current German Protestant hymnal (EG) and the Catholic hymnal ''

Gotteslob ''Gotteslob'' ("Praise of God") is the title of the hymnbook authorized by the Catholic dioceses in Germany, Austria, South Tyrol, Luxembourg and Liège, Belgium. First published in Advent 2013, it is the current official hymnal for German-speaki ...

'' (GL). He created text and melody for a few hymns: * "" (also: "allzugleich") (Praise God, you Christians all the same) (EG 27, GL 134): The hymn text was published in 1560, with a melody Herman had already published in 1554 (then as tune of "", Zahn No. 198).Luke Dahn
BWV 151.5
at , 2017 * "" (EG 106, GL 225) He wrote the text of: * "" * "" (part of EG 29) * "" (EG 141) * "" (EG 413) * "" (EG 437, GL 667) * "" (EG 467) * "" (EG 498) * "" (EG 522, stanzas 1–4, GL 658), a fifth stanza added by an anonymous writer, with a melody possibly by Herman, based on older melodies Johann Sebastian Bach used stanzas from his hymns in several cantatas. In the cantata for

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

Sunday 1715, , Bach used the melody of "" instrumentally in movement 8, stanza 5 as the closing chorale, movement 9. Bach closed (1723), with stanza 4 of the same hymn. The first stanza of "" appears in the center of the cantata for the first Sunday after

(1724), a stanza from "" in ''Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt'', BWV 151, for the third day of Christmas 1725, and the hymn's final stanza to close for the third day of Easter (1729). In his

Orgelbüchlein The ''Orgelbüchlein'' (''Little Organ Book'') BWV 599−644 is a set of 46 chorale preludes for organ — one of them is given in two versions — by Johann Sebastian Bach. All but three were written between 1708 and 1717 when Bach served as org ...

, he composed organ preludes on "" (BWV 609) and the Easter hymn "" (BWV 629). Several hymns were translated to Danish and English and included in hymnals, such as the Danish . "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich" was translated to "Let all together praise our God" by A. T. Russell, as No. 52 in his ''Psalms & Hymns'', 1851, and to "Praise ye the Lord, ye Christians" E. Cronenwett, as No. 31 in the ''Ohio Lutheran Hymnal'', 1880, among others.

Sources

* * * Philipp Wackernagel, Das deutsche Kirchenlied von der ältesten Zeit bis zu Anfang des 17.Jahrhunderts. 5 vol. 1855; all texts by Nikolaus Herman in vol. 2

References

External links

* *
Nikolaus Herman
Christliche Liederdatenbank {{DEFAULTSORT:Herman, Nikolaus Renaissance composers 1500s births 1561 deaths Year of birth uncertain German Lutheran hymnwriters People from Nürnberger Land German-language poets