First Line: | Ei, wie so selig schläfest du, Nach manchem schweren Stand |
Author: | Gottfried Neumann |
Language: | German |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Ei wie so selig schläfest du. [Burial.] Included as No. 179 in the Anmuthiger Blümenkrantz, 1712, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines. It is sometimes erroneously ascribed to N. L. von Zinzendorf.
In the Herrnhut Gesang-Buch, 1735, No. 535, it is altered, and stanzas iii.-v. omitted, while in the Brüder Gesang-Buch, 1778, No. 937, is stanzas i., ii., vii. of the 1712, considerably altered. The altered stanza ii., "Sein Leiden hat dich frei gemacht," is in the Württemberg Gesang-Buch, 1842, No. 619, inserted as stanza ii. of the hymn, " Ei, wie so sanft verschlafest du. The hymn was sung, probably in the form of 1735, at Zinzendorf’s funeral, and also at that of his second wife, Anna Nitschmann, he having died on the 9th, and she on the 21st May, 1760 (see Koch , v. 337, 271, 312). The translations are, (1) "How sweet the dream of her that sleeps," as No. 47 in the Moravian Hymn Book , 1742 (1754, pt. ii. No. 119). Adopted as No. 105 in the Bible Hymn Book, 1845. (2) "How sweetly this our brother sleeps," by J. W. Foster, as No. 845 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1789 (1886, No. 1256). [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)