Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr


"Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" is an early Lutheran hymn, with text and melody attributed to Nikolaus Decius. It was intended as a German version of the Gloria part of the Latin mass. Decius wrote three stanzas, probably in 1523, while a fourth was added probably by Joachim Slüter.
"Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" is included in many German hymnals, including the current Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch and in the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob. Catherine Winkworth translated the hymn to "All glory be to God on high".

History

"Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" is a paraphrase of the Latin Gloria from the mass liturgy. The oldest prints of the hymn do not mention an author, but it is believed that it was written in Low German by Nikolaus Decius in 1523, which makes it one of the earliest songs of the Reformation. The melody, Zahn No. 4457, is adapted from the Gloria of the mass for Easter in Gregorian chant, Lux et origo.

Early publications

"Aleyne God yn der Höge sy eere" is the first Low German version of the later "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" published in 's Geystlyke leder. The first print in High German appeared in a hymnal by Valentin Schumann in Leipzig in 1539. Text and melody of the hymn were published together for the first time in 's Kirchengesenge Deudtsch, although a slightly different version had already appeared a few years earlier in a Strasbourg hymnal.

Authorship

In 17th-century Leipzig hymnals the German text of "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" was attributed to Nikolaus Selnecker. In his church history of Braunschweig, published in five volumes between 1707 and 1720, refers to a Latin document from 1600, which named Decius as the author of text and melody of both "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" and "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig". The creation of hymns by Decius is dated 1522/23, before the first publications of hymns by Martin Luther : thus these hymns belong to the earliest of the Reformation.

Text and translation

The following text is taken from the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch, where the hymn is EG 179. The Catholic hymnal Gotteslob has only the first three stanzas, and a slight change in the rhythm of one tone. Both hymnals note 1523 as the year of writing. Catherine Winkworth translated the hymn to "All glory be to God on high, who hath our race befriended", which appears in 95 hymnals.

Hymn tune

The hymn tune of "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" is also used for "Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein" for Ascension, and "Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt", a paraphrase of Psalm 23 by Wolfgang Meuslin, printed in 1530.

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Musical settings

As a hymn usually sung every Sunday, it was often the basis for chorale preludes. Among those by Johann Sebastian Bach there are three in Clavier-Übung III, and three others in the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes. He also set the hymn as a four-part chorale. In his extant cantatas the melody appears in association with "Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein", a text for the Ascension, or "Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt", a paraphrase of Psalm 23. Other composers from the 18th century, or earlier, setting the hymn tune for organ include Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Georg Böhm, Christian Geist, Johann Peter Kellner, Melchior Schildt.
Felix Mendelssohn included a setting of the hymn in his oratorio Paulus, as No. 3, the first chorale after the overture and a chorus. Max Reger composed two chorale preludes, the first of his 52 chorale preludes, Op. 67 in 1902, and No. 2 of his 30 small chorale preludes, Op. 135a, in 1914. Charles Tomlinson Griffes wrote an organ piece in 1910. Sigfrid Karg-Elert included a setting as No. 23 of his 66 Chorale improvisations for organ, published in 1909. Ernst Pepping used it for the Gloria of his Deutsche Choralmesse, a six-part setting of 1928. Contemporary organ settings were written by Aivars Kalējs, among others.

Cited sources

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