Wir Christenleut
| "Wir Christenleut" | |
|---|---|
| Lutheran chorale | |
| English | We Christian people |
| Text | by Kaspar Füger |
| Language | German |
| Meter | 4-4-11-4-4-11 |
| Melody | anon. |
| Composed | 1589 |
| Published | 1592 |
"Wir Christenleut" (We Christian people)[1] is a Lutheran hymn for Christmas with text by Kaspar Füger, published in 1592.
History
[edit]Kaspar Füger was pastor at the Kreuzkirche, Dresden. He wrote "Wir Christenleut" for Christmas.[1] He and his son of the same name, who served as Kreuzkantor at the same church, published hymns in a collection Christliche Verß und Gesenge (Christian poems and songs) in 1592.[2]
The text is in five stanzas of six lines each, rhyming AABCCB. The A and C lines are short, while the B lines are more than twice as long.[1][3] The hymn deals with the joy about the birth of Jesus to redeem sinful people, born by Mary, followed by thanks for that joy and a closing Alleluja.[1]
Johann Sebastian Bach set different stanzas of the hymn, using an anonymous tune first published in 1589, for his Christmas cantatas Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40 (1723),[1] and Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110,[1] and as the final chorale in Part III of his Christmas Oratorio of 1734.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "Wir Christenleut habn jetzund Freud / Text and Translation of Chorale". Bach Cantatas. 2005. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
- ^ "Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / Wir Christenleut habn jetzund Freud". Bach Cantatas. 2005. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
- ^ "Wir Christenleut haben jetzund Freud". Hymnary. 2025. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
- ^ "Kaspar (Caspar) Füger (Hymn-Writer)". Bach Cantatas. Retrieved 29 December 2012.