| "Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin" | |
|---|---|
| Hymn by Martin Luther | |
 Text and melody with biblical illustration,Bapstsches Gesangbuch, 1545 | |
| Catalogue | Zahn 3986 |
| Text | byMartin Luther |
| Language | German |
| Based on | Nunc dimittis |
| Published | 1524 (1524) |
"Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin" (German:[mɪtˈfʁiːtʔʊntˈfʁɔʏtʔɪçˈfaːɐ̯ daˈhɪn]; In peace and joy I now depart) is ahymn by Martin Luther, a paraphrase in German of theNunc dimittis, thecanticle of Simeon. Luther wrote the text and melody,Zahn No. 3986, in 1524 and it was first published in the same year. Originally a song forPurification, it has been used for funerals. Luther included it in 1542 inChristliche Geseng ... zum Begrebniss (Christian chants ... for funeral).
The hymn appears in several translations, for exampleCatherine Winkworth's "In peace and joy I now depart", in nine hymnals. It has been used as the base for music, especially for vocal music such asDieterich Buxtehude's funeral musicMit Fried und Freud andJohann Sebastian Bach's chorale cantataMit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125.
The text and melody were composed by Luther in the spring of 1524. Later in the same year, it was published in Wittenberg in Johann Walter'sEyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn (Wittenberg hymnal),[1][2] but was not included in theErfurt Enchiridion. Originally a song forPurification, it has been used for funerals.[3] Luther included it in 1542 inChristliche Geseng ... zum Begrebniss (Christian chants ... for funeral) as one of six hymns.[1]
Luther, a former monk, was familiar with the LatinNunc dimittis from the daily night prayer (compline). The hymn was dedicated to the celebration of thePurification on 2 February, which was kept by the Lutherans as a feast day. It became also one of the most important songs for the dying (Sterbelied) and for funerals.[1] It is listed among those in the Protestant hymnalEvangelisches Gesangbuch as No. 519.[4]
The hymn is based on theNunc dimittis, the canticle of Simeon. Luther expanded the thoughts of each of the four verses to a stanza of six lines. The first stanza expresses accepting death in peace (Luke 2:29), the second gives as a reason the meeting with the Saviour (Luke 2:30), the third accents his coming for all people (Luke 2:31), the fourth the coming as a light for the heathen and glory for Israel.(Luke 2:31) The lines are of different length, meter 8.4.8.4.7.7, stressing single statements.[5] The hymn appears in several translations. The one used here isCatherine Winkworth's "In peace and joy I now depart", found in nine hymnals, for example as No. 48 in theEvangelical Lutheran Hymnary.[5]
| Hymn text | Canticle verse | English translation |
|---|---|---|
Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin | Herr, nun lässt du deinen | In peace and joy I now depart, |
Das macht Christus, wahr' Gottes Sohn, | denn meine Augen haben | 'Tis Christ hath wrought this work for me, |
Den hast du allen vorgestellt | den du bereitet hast | For Thou In mercy unto all |
Er ist das Heil und selig Licht | ein Licht, zu erleuchten | He is the heathens' saving Light, |
Thecantus firmus in thedorian mode, Zahn 3986,[6] follows the text of the first stanza. The melody, which could predate Luther, containsfigura corta motifs, in this case two quavers followed by a crotchet, ananapaest; fordactyls, with a long beat followed by two beats, these were motifs denoting "joy", in the classification of chorales introduced byAlbert Schweitzer. In the fourth line, the melody has a descending scale for the text "sanft und stille" (soft and still). There have been several settings of the hymn fororgan. In 1674Dieterich Buxtehude composed a setting of the hymn as an elegy on the death of his father: thechorale preludeBuxWV 76 for two manuals and pedal. In the 1710s,Johann Sebastian Bach composed an organ chorale preludeBWV 616 as part of theOrgelbüchlein. Twentieth-century organ settings includeMax Reger's Choral Preludes Nos. 5 and 10,Op. 79b (1901–03), andErnst Pepping's Partita No. 3 (1953).[7][8]
Several composers have written vocal settings, some intended for funerals. Four-part choral settings have been composed byJohann Walter (1524),Lupus Hellinck, published in 1544,Bartholomäus Gesius (1601),Michael Praetorius,Johann Hermann Schein,Samuel Scheidt and others.[7]Heinrich Schütz used it in movement 21 of hisMusikalische Exequien, composed for the funeral ofHenry II, Count of Reuss-Gera. Buxtehude wrote four different versions for the four stanzas in complex counterpoint as a funeral music for Menno Hanneken,Mit Fried und Freud, which he later expanded by aKlag-Lied (lament) into a funeral music for his father. Bach used the hymn as the base for hischorale cantataMit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125. Bach used single stanzas inhis cantatas, the funeral cantataGottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 (c. 1708),Christus, der ist mein Leben, BWV 95, for the 16th Sunday after Trinity (1723), andErfreute Zeit im neuen Bunde, BWV 83, forPurification 1724).[7]Georg Philipp Telemann composed around 1729 a first sacred cantata for voices, strings and basso continuo, and a second cantata for voice, violin and continuo which is lost.Johannes Brahms used the first stanza to conclude his motetWarum ist das Licht gegeben dem Mühseligen?
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