Jesu, meines Glaubens Zier

Jesu, meines Glaubens Zier
Other nameIt is finished! Christ hath known
GenrePassion hymn
Textby Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer
LanguageGerman
Meter78.87.87.87
MelodyAnonymous (1714)
Publishedtext: 1661 (1661); melody: 1714 (1714)

Jesu, meines Glaubens Zier is a German Lutheran hymn by Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer, first published in 1661.[1] Its hymn tune, Zahn No. 6453, was first published in 1714, in Freylinghausen's hymnal.[2] In 1736 the hymn was adopted in Schemellis Gesangbuch, with a figured bass accompaniment which may have been contributed by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 472).[3]

The tune is also known in English due to its presence in the 1906 English Hymnal and its 1986 successor, where it appears to "It is finished! Christ hath known", a Passion text by Gabriel Gillett[4] written for the 1906 publication and based on Jesus' dying words, per the Gospel of John, "tetelestai" ("It is finished!"),[5] which inspired many other hymns.[6]

Text

The original German text is a Passion hymn[1] in five stanzas of eight lines each.[3] An English-language version of the hymn, not a translation of the original but sharing its rhyme scheme and Passion theme, has three stanzas.[7] The author of that version, who exemplifies the conservative tradition of the beginning of the 20th-century, pleads, in a "very sensitive and beautiful text",[8] for Christ, as maker of human joys and sorrows, to lead his flock upon the same path of self-sacrifice. The poet's tone and theology are medieval in nature, the text as a whole expanding on medieval analogies between Nature and Christian mythology.[9]

Tune

The hymn tune of "Jesu, meines Glaubens Zier" was first published in Freylinghausen's hymnal in 1714.[2] The setting which appears in Schemellis Gesangbuch only consists of a vocal line (melody) and a figured bass.[3] A realisation of this was published in the English Hymnal, and this setting is transcribed below.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Lyon 2005, pp. 145–146.
  2. ^ a b Zahn 1891, p. 73.
  3. ^ a b c Jesu, meines Glaubens Zier (sacred song) BWV 472 at Bach Digital.
  4. ^ "It Is Finished!". Hymnary.org. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  5. ^ See John 19:30.
  6. ^ "It is finished! Christ hath known". The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press.
  7. ^ a b The New English Hymnal. Norwich: Canterbury Press. 1986. pp. 817–818.
  8. ^ Routley 1979, no. 342B.
  9. ^ Adey 1986, pp. 177–178.

Sources

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