Here might I stay and sing

Friday, May 8, 2015

We Thank Thee, Jesus, Dearest Friend

We Thank Thee, Jesus, Dearest Friend (ERSCHIENEN IST).ly
We Thank Thee, Jesus, Dearest Friend (ERSCHIENEN IST).midi
We Thank Thee, Jesus, Dearest Friend (ERSCHIENEN IST)-1.midi
We Thank Thee, Jesus, Dearest Friend (ERSCHIENEN IST).pdf

This hymn for the Ascension comes from the Germany. "Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ," was written by Nicolaus Selneccer (1530-1592), a Lutheran priest and student of Melanchthon. It was translated into the English by Matthias Loy (1828-1915), an American and native of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, who taught theology at the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary at Columbus, Ohio. Originally quite long, only five verses have been selected for inclusion here.

The tune, ERSCHIENEN IST was originally paired with the Paschaltide hymn, Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag by Nikolaus Herman (c. 1480-1561), a Lutheran hymn writer and contemporary of Martin Luther. The tune for Herman's text appears to be heavily indebted to certain Gregorian melodies proper to Paschaltide.
In modern hymnals, this tune is associated with a number of different texts. Two harmonizations are provided here. The first is heavily indebted to Cyber Hymnal, while the second is a cento of the two chorale harmonizations written by J.S. Bach.

About this blog:

"Here might I stay and sing" is a blog dedicated to making available new engravings of classic, English language hymnody. The text and music of all hymns to be published on this blog will be in the public domain. A pdf score, midi audio file, and the Lilypond engraving file will be uploaded for each hymn.

With a large collection of hymn engravings already edited and amassed, "Here might I stay and sing" is the first step in bringing to the public an ongoing project aimed at creating a comprehensive collection of public domain hymnody suitable for liturgical worship.

Every attempt has been made to provide the best harmonization of the tunes. Occasionally, multiple harmonizations have been provided.

The texts are, as much as possible, presented in their original versions, the adaptions being found in many hymnals having been often rejected. However, in some instances, the original version bears little resemblance to that found in nearly all hymnals, and thus the traditional text has been used.

Use of the original texts has entailed the inclusion of gender-specific language, and a more ancient, perhaps hieratic, English. Such a tradition is clearly in keeping with the tradition of the sacred texts. Also, such an inclusion avoids the politically correct linguistic hoop jumping that hymnary.org has endured in changing "God of our Fathers" to "God of the Ages." Thus, the texts presented here remain as they have traditionally been sung. On a few occasions, the original text, rather than the most common, has been used, the original carrying greater meaning or more depth.