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“Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht" (Christ, you are the day and light) is a Martin Luther Catechism evening song composed in 1526 to the early Latin hymn Christe qui lux es et dies with the associated melody (Zahn 343). The text was published in Wittenberg in 1525 (seven-stanzas, EG 469, EKG 354), attributed to Wolfgang Meuslin (1526) and published in Joseph Klug's Geistliche Lieder, 1543. The English hymn version is “O Christ, who art the light and day.” This hymn, "Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht” is found in the NLGB No. 205 (based on Psalm 4, Hear me when I call, O God, KJV), Catechism Evening Song, which also is a Passion hymn, attributed to Martin Luther (1529), published in Wittenberg 1533 and Valentin Bapst (1545). It is found in the Schemelli as No. 430.
About 1700, J.S. Bach set this melody as a Neumeister organ chorale prelude, BWV 1096 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X05kd-j8iWg), possibly by Johann Pachelbel. J.S. Bach also set this hymn as a liturgical plain chorale, BWV 274 in g minor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq2xhYZaVBc, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ercIuO6Rads (Rilling vol. 85, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV250-438-Rilling.htm). The melody also is listed but not set in the Orgelbüchlein, No. 149 (Evening Song, http://www.orgelbuechlein.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/NOB-149-chorale.pdf). The melody is related to the anonymous 1535 Passion melody, "Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ, dass du für uns gestorben" (We thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, that you have died for us). About 1714, J.S. Bach set the same melody "Wir danken dir . . . ," in the Weimar Orgelbüchlein organ chorale prelude OB 26, BWV 623, as a Passion hymn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtW-g67ra-k).
Source: Devotional Hymns: Morning, Evening Songs (William L. Hoffman, December 14, 2017) |
