I never got anywhere when I tried to learn German, so that colors the rest of this post. I also realize that there’s a small handful of Dopers who profess to be Lutherans, so I will accept the possibility that I won’t get an answer to my question.
This past Sunday, our service ended with a hymn that had English language lyrics set to the opening portion of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. I really like to original, but never knew what was sung, because it all sounds like nonsense chorals to my untrained ear. This hymn (#551, Lutheran Book of Worship) had some pretty cool lyrics if you’re into religious music. Sorry, I can’t cite an excerpt.
What I’m trying to find out is if what we sang was an accurate (or even loose) translation from the German, or if this was another example of hijacking the instrumentals from one work to create another. Unfortunately, Lutheran church music is full of examples of hijacked music.
In any case, #551 went straight to the top of my favorites list…
Thanks for the linky. The literal translation wasn’t even close to what we sang.
Caricci, AFAIAmConcerned, you can sing whatever you want to the cat. I don’t care that we sing hijacked hymns. I was more concerned with what the original form said.
They were written in 1908 by Henry Van Dyke as a free translation of Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” (which was about 100 years old at that point) for use in Christian religious services. And the Beethoven music was the obvious setting for them.
“Mische seinen Jubel ein!” is an imperative, so it should be “Mix in his jubilation!” Other than that it looks like a very close literal translation indeed.
I must say I like “Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium” much more than the text Polycarp linked to. Now “An die Freude” will be stuck in my head for the rest of the day.
But there are also some stunningly beautiful hymns written by Luther himself and arranged by none other than Johann Sebastian Bach. Stuff like “Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott” (Palm 46) which is usually sung for the feast of St. Martin, and “Vom Himmel Hoch da Komm ich Her” which is still one of the most popular Christmas songs in Germany.
Other beautiful Lutheran Bachiana, though not written by Luther, include Wachet Auf (melody by Hans Sachs, words by Philipp Nicolai) and Herzlich tut mich, verlangen (melody by Hans L. Hassler, words by Paul Gerhardt).
We sang it in German, in my highschool choir. I can’t get the lyrics out of my since then; I can’t just hum the tune in my head–it comes out in German.
