Nikolaus Herman
Nikolaus Herman (first name also Nicolaus or Niklas;
Career
Herman was born in
Hymns
Several of his hymns are part of present-day hymnals, such as the current German Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch (EG) and the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob (GL).
He created text and melody for a few hymns:
- "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich" (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 "Kommt her, ihr lieben Schwesterlein", Zahn No. 198).[4]
- "Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag" (EG 106, GL 225)[5]
He wrote the text of:
- "Da der Herr Christ zu Tische saß"
- "Heut sein die lieben Engelein" (part of EG 29)
- "Wir wollen singn ein’ Lobgesang" (EG 141)
- "Ein wahrer Glaube Gotts Zorn stillt" (EG 413)
- "Die helle Sonn leucht’ jetzt herfür" (EG 437, GL 667)
- "Hinunter ist der Sonnen Schein" (EG 467)
- "In Gottes Namen fahren wir" (EG 498)
- "Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist" (EG 522, stanzas 1–4, GL 658), a fifth stanza added by an anonymous writer,[6] with a melody possibly by Herman, based on older melodies[7]
Johann Sebastian Bach used stanzas from his hymns in several cantatas. In the cantata for Easter Sunday 1715, Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret, BWV 31, Bach used the melody of "Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist" instrumentally in movement 8, stanza 5 as the closing chorale, movement 9.[6] Bach closed Christus, der ist mein Leben, BWV 95 (1723), with stanza 4 of the same hymn.[6] The first stanza of "Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag" appears in the center of the cantata for the first Sunday after Easter Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ, BWV 67 (1724), a stanza from "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich" in Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt, BWV 151, for the third day of Christmas 1725, and the hymn's final stanza to close Ich lebe, mein Herze, zu deinem Ergötzen, BWV 145 for the third day of Easter (1729). In his Orgelbüchlein, he composed organ preludes on "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich" (BWV 609) and the Easter hymn "Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag" (BWV 629).[2]
Several hymns were translated to Danish and English and included in hymnals, such as the Danish Psalmebog for Kirke og Hjem . "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.[8]
Sources
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1990). "HERMAN, Nikolaus". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 2. Hamm: Bautz. cols. 747–749. ISBN 3-88309-032-8.
- Adalbert Elschenbroich (1969), "Herman, Nikolaus", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 8, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 628; (full text online)
- 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
- ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5.
- ^ a b "Nikolaus Herman (Hymn-Writer, Composer)". Bach Cantatas. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
- ISBN 9783525503232.
- ^ Luke Dahn. BWV 151.5 at bach-chorales
.com , 2017 - ISBN 978-0-19-929776-4.
- ^ a b c "Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist / Text and Translation of Chorale". Bach Cantatas. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
- ^ "Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist". Bach Cantatas. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
- ^ "Nikolaus Herman". hymnary.org. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
External links
- Literature by and about Nikolaus Herman in the German National Library catalogue
- Free scores by Nikolaus Herman at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Nikolaus Herman Christliche Liederdatenbank (in German)