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Catherine Winkworth
1827 - 1878 Person Name: Miss Winkworth Translator of "Truest Friend, who canst not fail" in Church Book Catherine Winkworth (b. Holborn, London, England, 1827; d. Monnetier, Savoy, France, 1878) is well known for her English translations of German hymns; her translations were polished and yet remained close to the original. Educated initially by her mother, she lived with relatives in Dresden, Germany, in 1845, where she acquired her knowledge of German and interest in German hymnody. After residing near Manchester until 1862, she moved to Clifton, near Bristol. A pioneer in promoting women's rights, Winkworth put much of her energy into the encouragement of higher education for women. She translated a large number of German hymn texts from hymnals owned by a friend, Baron Bunsen. Though often altered, these translations continue to be used in many modern hymnals. Her work was published in two series of Lyra Germanica (1855, 1858) and in The Chorale Book for England (1863), which included the appropriate German tune with each text as provided by Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt. Winkworth also translated biographies of German Christians who promoted ministries to the poor and sick and compiled a handbook of biographies of German hymn authors, Christian Singers of Germany (1869).
Bert Polman
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Winkworth, Catherine, daughter of Henry Winkworth, of Alderley Edge, Cheshire, was born in London, Sep. 13, 1829. Most of her early life was spent in the neighbourhood of Manchester. Subsequently she removed with the family to Clifton, near Bristol. She died suddenly of heart disease, at Monnetier, in Savoy, in July, 1878. Miss Winkworth published:—
Translations from the German of the Life of Pastor Fliedner, the Founder of the Sisterhood of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserworth, 1861; and of the Life of Amelia Sieveking, 1863.
Her sympathy with practical efforts for the benefit of women, and with a pure devotional life, as seen in these translations, received from her the most practical illustration possible in the deep and active interest which she took in educational work in connection with the Clifton Association for the Higher Education of Women, and kindred societies there and elsewhere. Our interest, however, is mainly centred in her hymnological work as embodied in her:—
(1) Lyra Germanica, 1st Ser., 1855. (2) Lyra Germanica, 2nd Ser., 1858. (3) The Chorale Book for England (containing translations from the German, together with music), 1863; and (4) her charming biographical work, the Christian Singers of Germany, 1869.
In a sympathetic article on Miss Winkworth in the Inquirer of July 20, 1878, Dr. Martineau says:—
"The translations contained in these volumes are invariably faithful, and for the most part both terse and delicate; and an admirable art is applied to the management of complex and difficult versification. They have not quite the fire of John Wesley's versions of Moravian hymns, or the wonderful fusion and reproduction of thought which may be found in Coleridge. But if less flowing they are more conscientious than either, and attain a result as poetical as severe exactitude admits, being only a little short of ‘native music'"
Dr. Percival, then Principal of Clifton College, also wrote concerning her (in the Bristol Times and Mirror), in July, 1878:—
"She was a person of remarkable intellectual and social gifts, and very unusual attainments; but what specially distinguished her was her combination of rare ability and great knowledge with a certain tender and sympathetic refinement which constitutes the special charm of the true womanly character."
Dr. Martineau (as above) says her religious life afforded "a happy example of the piety which the Church of England discipline may implant.....The fast hold she retained of her discipleship of Christ was no example of ‘feminine simplicity,' carrying on the childish mind into maturer years, but the clear allegiance of a firm mind, familiar with the pretensions of non-Christian schools, well able to test them, and undiverted by them from her first love."
Miss Winkworth, although not the earliest of modern translators from the German into English, is certainly the foremost in rank and popularity. Her translations are the most widely used of any from that language, and have had more to do with the modern revival of the English use of German hymns than the versions of any other writer.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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See also in:
Hymn Writers of the Church
Catherine Winkworth
Johann Neunherz
1653 - 1737 Person Name: John Neunherz Author of "Truest Friend, who canst not fail" in Church Book Neunhertz, Johannes, son of Johannes Neunhertz, weaver at Waltersdorf, near Kupferberg, in Silesia, was born at Waltersdorf Aug. 16, 1653, and entered the University of Leipzig in June, 1673 (M.A. 1676). In 1678 he was appointed assistant preacher at Lauban, in Silesia; in 1680 pastor at Kiesslingswalde; and in 1696 pastor at Geibsdorf, both near Lauban. He then became, in 1706, diaconus of the Holy Trinity Church, and also morning preacher at the Holy Cross Church in Lauban. Finally, in 1709, he was appointed chief pastor at Hirschberg, in Silesia, and died there Nov. 26, 1737 (S. J. Ehrhardt's Presbyterologie Schlesiens, 1780-89, iii. pt. ii. p. 187; Koch, v. 450; Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie xxiii. 549; Bode, p. 121—-the first dating his birth 1652). Neunhertz was the author of a large number of hymns, good and flowing in style, but often lengthy and with little power or concentration. They appeared in his various works:—
(1) Eyangelische Sabbaths-Freude, Zittau, 1690. (2) Christliche Leid-Andachten, Lauban, 1698. (3) Evangelische Ilertz-Ermunterung, Leipzig, 1701. (4) Tröstliche . . . Andachten, Lauban, 1709; 2nd edition as Andachts-Flammen, Budissin, 1717; and in the Silesian hymn-books of the period. A large number are given in the Hirschberg Gesang-Buch, 1741, a few in Burg's Gesang-Buch, Breslau, 1746, and some still survive in modern collections.
The only hymn by him which seems to have passed into English is:—
Zweene Jünger gehn mit Sehnen. Eastertide. A hymn on the Two Disciples on their way to Emmaus (St. Luke xxiv. 13-35). Included in the Lauban Gesang-Buch, 1707, p. 162 [Wernigerode Library], as No. 5 of the Easter Hymns, in 9 st. of 8 1., and marked as by M J. Neunhertz. Also in the Berlin Geistliche Lieder, ed. 1863, No. 326. The form translation into English is: "Trauernd und mit bangem Sehnen." This appeared in the Liegnitz Gesang-Buch,1804 (ed. 1819, No. 155), and is repeated in the Württemberg Gesang-Buch, 1842, No. 176, in 7 stanzas. It is a recast by L. E. S. Müller. The translation in common use is:—
Sad with longing, sick with fears. A full and good translation from the 1842 text by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 2nd Ser. 1858, p. 43. In the Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book, 1868, the translations of st. iv.-vii. altered and beginning, "Truest Friend, Who canst not fail," were given as No. 440. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Johann Neunherz
