Gerhardt Thesis
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THE RECEPTION OF PAUL GERHARDT’S HYMNS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Voluntary Addition to the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Sacred Music by Andrew A. Cashner, B.Mus. Mary Frandsen, Director Department of Theology Notre Dame, Indiana April 2009 Copyright © 2009 Andrew A. Cashner THE RECEPTION OF PAUL GERHARDT’S HYMNS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY Abstract by Andrew A. Cashner Despite the prominence of the hymns of Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676) in the liturgical works of J. S. Bach and in churches today, scholars like Irmgard Scheitler and Walter Blankenburg have argued that Lutherans in the seventeenth century used new hymns like Gerhardt’s only for private devotion, and did not sing them in public liturgies until the eighteenth century, under the influence of Pietism. In contrast, Christian Bunners argues that church choirs introduced the liturgical use of these hymns before Pietism. This thesis explores the role of Gerhardt’s hymns in Lutheran communities in the three spheres of home, school, and church. It critically examines numerous hymnal publications, and presents new evidence from school and church manuscript collections and inventories, not considered by the other scholars, arguing that Gerhardt’s hymns were not relegated to domestic use, but were also sung in church in many places by school choirs and perhaps also congregations. This thesis is dedicated to my wife Ann, with love and gratitude. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables............................................................................................................................v List of Musical Examples ......................................................................................................vi List of Figures ........................................................................................................................vii List of Abbreviations ...........................................................................................................viii Preface......................................................................................................................................ix Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................xiv Chapter 1: Introduction..........................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: The Scholarly Controversy over the Use of Gerhardt’s Hymns ..................7 Chapter 3: The Publication and Dissemination of Gerhardt’s Hymns in the Seventeenth Century .............................................................................40 Chapter 4: The Evidence of the Inventories and Manuscript Collections...................77 Chapter 5: The Use of Hymns in Home, School, and Church ......................................95 Chapter 6: A New Perspective on the Publications of Crüger and Ebeling ............. 118 Chapter 7: Conclusions...................................................................................................... 150 Appendix A: Table of Publications of Gerhardt’s Hymns .......................................... 155 Appendix B: Settings of Gerhardt’s Nicht so traurig, nicht so sehr by Crüger and Ebeling .......................................................................................................... 162 Appendix C: The “Ode” from Ebeling’s Gerhardt Publications................................ 165 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................... 166 iv LIST OF TABLES 1. The First Publication of Gerhardt’s Rhythmica Oratio Paraphrases in Praxis Pietatis Melica.......................................................................................................................47 2. Gerhardt Hymns Appointed to be Sung During Lent (Plus Quinquagesima and Easter Sunday) at the Court of Husum..................................................................64 3. The Most Frequently Printed Gerhardt Hymns in the Seventeenth Century .........72 4. Crüger’s Geistliche Kirchen=Melodien (1649) in Church Inventories.............................79 5. Contents of Binder’s Collection at University of Pennsylvania, “Bassus Continuus” Partbook (Original Order) .........................................................................80 6. Gerhardt Settings by Ebeling Copied in SLUB Mus. Löb 53 (1674) .........................84 7. Liturgical Designations for Rist’s Hymns in SLUB Mus. Löb 42...............................88 8. Liturgical Music in SLUB Mus. 1/D/504......................................................................89 9. Mnemonic Titles of Psalm Settings in SLUB Mus. 1/D/504.....................................90 10. Hymns in SLUB Mus. 1/D/504 ...................................................................................91 v LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES 1. Ebeling 1667, Ich singe dir mit Herz und Mund (no. 111, p. 250)...................................24 2. Ebeling 1667, Nun ist der Regen hin (no. 42, p. 106) ......................................................24 3. Nun lob mein Seel’ den Herren, 1540 (as given in Zahn, Die Melodien, no. 8244)..........28 4. Gastoldi, In dir ist Freude, 1591 (Zahn no. 8537)...........................................................28 5. Ebeling, Die güldne Sonne, 1667 (Zahn no. 8013)...........................................................28 6. Wir glauben all an einem Gott, 1524 (Zahn no. 7971) ......................................................29 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1. Praxis Pietatis Melica 1656, engraving and first hymn (Gerhardt’s Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe) ................................................................................................................ 130 2. PPM 1656 engraving, detail.......................................................................................... 131 3. The union of private and public worship. Engraving from Praxis Pietatis Melica (Frankfurt am Main, 1666), reprinted in Bunners, Paul Gerhardt: Weg—Werk— Wirkung, 200.................................................................................................................... 154 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Ebeling 1667............Johann Georg Ebeling, Pauli Gerhardi Geistliche Andachten, 1st ed. (1667) Ebeling 1669...........Johann Georg Ebeling, Pauli Gerhardi Geistliche Andachten, 2nd ed. (1669) GK 1649 ................................................Johann Crüger, Geistliche Kirchen=Melodien (1649) MGG ............................................................................ Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart PPM...........................................................................................................Praxis Pietatis Melica SLUB ........Sächsische Landesbibliothek—Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden viii PREFACE This thesis is an investigation of “The Reception of Paul Gerhardt’s Hymns in the Seventeenth Century.” Each part of this title merits explanation. First, what kind of reception, and by whom? This thesis will focus on how Gerhardt’s hymns were used among German-speaking Lutherans of “orthodox” confession, particularly how people learned them and where and when they sang, played, and prayed them. Second, why Gerhardt? Gerhardt is one of many other hymn writers of this period, including Johann Heermann, Johann Rist, and Johann Franck; but Gerhardt stands out because of the high theological and poetic quality of his work, and because of his strong influence on later ecclesiastic and musical history—most notably, the prominence of his hymns in the works of J. S. Bach. Bach’s use of Gerhardt’s hymns makes the question of when these became well known as congregational hymns especially important to musicologists. Gerhardt is also important not only because of the continued use of his own hymns in churches today (especially Lutheran ones), but also because Gerhardt can be considered the fountainhead of a deep stream of later hymnody. As the hymnologist Carlton R. Young has pointed out, Gerhardt had a profound influence on John Wesley (who translated some of his hymns) and his brother Charles, and through them, on the later hymnody of the Methodist and evangelical movements, especially in the United States.1 Gerhardt’s hymns provided the Wesleys with a model for a type of hymnody that was more 1 Carlton R. Young, lectures on White Gospel Hymnody delivered at the annual conference of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, Montreat, NC, June 2005. ix emotional and subjectively-oriented than traditional Protestant hymnody, and through the Wesleys’ influence, Gerhardt’s hymns led to the great tradition of American “white gospel” hymnody, which is still flourishing. This stream of devotional hymnody is taking on new forms today as a result of the development in the last thirty years of “contemporary Christian music.” Understanding the function of Gerhardt’s hymns in the spiritual lives of Gerhardt’s contemporaries may lead to a deeper understanding of the role of devotional hymns in the lives of Christians of our own time. Another reason to focus on Gerhardt is that he had the advantage of having his hymns set to music by personal acquaintances, both of whom focused their publications specifically on his works. Chief among these were Johann Crüger and Johann Georg Ebeling, the two successive music directors at Berlin’s St. Nicholas church when Gerhardt was the pastor there. Crüger’s