| "Now thank we all our God" is a popular Christian hymn. It is
a translation from the German "Nun danket alle Gott", written
circa 1636 by
Martin Rinkart (1586–1649), which in turn was inspired by
Sirach,
chapter 50 verses 22–24, from the praises of Simon the high priest. It
was translated into English in the 19th Century by
Catherine Winkworth. Martin Rinkart was a Lutheran minister who
came to
Eilenburg,
Saxony
at the beginning of the
Thirty Years' War. The walled city of Eilenburg became the refuge
for political and military fugitives, but the result was overcrowding,
and deadly pestilence and famine. Armies overran it three times. The
Rinkart home was a refuge for the victims, even though he was often
hard-pressed to provide for his own family. During the height of a
severe plague in 1637, Rinkart was the only surviving pastor in
Eilenburg, conducting as many as 50 funerals in a day. He performed more
than 4000 funerals in that year, including that of his wife.
During this time, Rinkart was a prolific hymn writer. In Rinkart's "Jesu
Hertz-Buchlein" (Leipzig, Germany: 1636), the hymn appears under the
title "Tisch-Gebetlein," or a short prayer before meals. The exact date
of "Nun danket alle Gott" is debated, but it is known that it was widely
sung by the time the Treaty of Westphalia was signed in 1648.
The tune is the
Leuthen Chorale and is attributed to
Johann Crüger and written circa 1647. It is used in
J.S. Bach's
cantatas, such as
BWV 79,
192, and in his BWV 252, 386 and 657. The now-standard harmonisation
was devised by
Felix Mendelssohn in 1840 when he adopted the hymn, sung in the
now-standard key of
F major
and with its original German lyrics, as the chorale to his
second symphony, known as the Lobgesang or Hymn of Praise.
The Late-Romantic German composer
Sigfrid Karg-Elert was one of the more recent composers to use this
hymn, composing a 'Marche Triomphale' which is a famous piece in the
classical pipe organ repertoire. After the
Battle of Leuthen in the
Seven Years' War, a soldier of the victorious Prussian army started
to sing it, and soon all 25,000 joined in the hymn.
It is often used in Christian
weddings and other joyous religious ceremonies, and in Germany it is
sung on occasions of national thanksgiving... |
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