Suggested tune: GELOBET SEIST DU
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Gelobet seist du Jesu Christ. [Christmas.] This hymn has been called a translation of the following Latin sequence:—
1. "Grates nunc omnes reddamus Domino Deo, qui sua nativitate nos liberavit de diabolica potestate.
2. “Huic oportet ut canamus cum angelis semper: Gloria in excelsis."
The text of this sequence is in Daniel, ii. p. 5, apparently from a Munich manuscript of the 11th century, and is also found in a 12th century manuscript in the British Museum (Add. 11,669, f. 49). It has been ascribed to St. Gregory the Great, and to Notker Balbulus; but is probably by neither. The earliest form in which the German hymn has been found is in a manuscript of 1370, probably written in the district of Celle, and now in the Royal library at Copenhagen. In the Blatter fur Hymnologie, 1883, p. 47, it is quoted as occurring thus:—
"Hinc oportet ut canamus cum angelis septem gloria in excelsis:—
Louet sistu ihū crist,
dat du hute ghebaren bist
van eyner magnet: Dat is war.
Des vrow sik aide hemmelsche schar. Kyr."
The introductory words, it will be noted, are a corrupted form of pt. ii. of the sequence; the four lines following can hardly be said to have any connection with the sequence. This German stanza came into extensive use; and is almost the only instance of popular vernacular song used in the Church services before the Reformation. Thus in the Ordinarium inclitae ecclesiae Swerinensis, Rostock, 1519, there is a rubric in the service for Christmas, "Populus vero Canticum vulgare: Gelavet systu Jesu Christ, tribus vicibus subjunget" (Hoffmann von Fallersleben, edition 1861, p. 194). To this single pre-Reformation stanza Martin Luther added six original stanzas (which contain slight reminiscences of Fortunatus's "Quern terra, pontus, aethera"), and published the 7 stanzas (each stanza ending with Kyrieleis) on a broadsheet at Wittenberg, and then in Eyn Enchiridion, Erfurt, 1524. Thence in Wackernagel, iii. p. 9, in Schircks's edition of Luther's Geistliche Lieder, 1854, p. 9; in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen &, 1851, No. 36; and in almost all German hymn-books from the Reformation to the present time. Schamelius described it as "The blessings of the birth of Christ celebrated in paradoxes." It is translated as:—
1. Jesus! all praise it due to Thee. A good translation by C. Kinchen, omitting stanza vi., as No. 52, in theMoravian Hymn Book, 1742. When repeated in the edition 1754, pt. i., No. 213, Kinchen's translation of stanzas i., ii., iii., vii. were retained, and stanzas iv.-vi. were given in a cento partly from Jacobi (see below). The 1754 text was repeated, with alterations, in subsequent editions of the Moravian Hymn Book (1886, No. 34), and is found, as No. 209, in Lady Huntingdon's Selection, 1780. Two centos may also be noted:—
(1) "He, who the earth's foundations laid.” (stanza ii), Cotterill's Selection, 1819, No. 216. (2) "The Son of God, who fram'd the skies" (stanza ii. line 3), in the Bible Hymn Book, 1845, No. 221.
2. 0 Jesu Christ! all praise to Thee. By A. T. Russell, in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851, No. 42, omitting stanza iii., vi. Slightly altered, in Kennedy, 1863.
3. All praise to Thee, eternal Lord. A free translation in 5 stanzas of 4 lines as No. 263 in the American Sabbath Hymn Book, 1858, and repeated unaltered in Schaff's Christ in Song, 1869, p. 53 (1879, p. 42). It is included in full and generally unaltered in various American collections, as the Baptist Hymn Book, 1871, Presbyterian Hymnal, 1874, Laudes Domini, 1884, &c.; and in England in Soden's Universal Hymn Book, 1885.
Translations not in common use:—
(1) "Now blessed be Thou, Christ Jesu," by Bishop Coverdale, 1539 (Remains, 1846, p. 562). (2) "Due praises to th' incarnate Love," by J. C. Jacobi, 1722, p. 6 (1732, p. 6). (3) "Oh, let Thy praise, Redeemer, God!'"
1853, p. 36. (6) “All praise to Jesus' hallowed name," by R. Massie, 1854, p. 11, repeated in Dr. Bacon, 1884, p. 80. (1) "Praised be Thou, 0 Jesus Christ," by Dr. G. Macdonald in the Sunday Magazine, 1867, p. 151, altered in his Exotics , 1876, p. 43. (8) "All glory, Jesus Christ, to Thee," in the Church of England Magazine, 1872, p. 46. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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