Suggested tune: SCHMÜCKE DICH
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Schmueke dich, o liebe Seele. J. Franck. [Holy Communion.] Of this stanza i. first appeared in J. Crüger's Geistliche Kirchen Melodien, 1649, No. 103, set to the beautiful melody by Crüger given in the Chorale Book for England (see below). The full form, in 9 stanzas of 8 lines, is in the Crüger-Runge Gesang-Buch, 1653, No. 199, entitled "Preparation for Holy Communion." Included in Crüger's Praxis, 1656, No. 267, and most succeeding hymn-books, as recently in the Berlin Geistliche Lieder, ed. 1863, No. 490. In Franck's Geistliches Sion, 1674, No. 22 (1846, p. 55).
This hymn is perhaps the finest of all German hymns for the Holy Communion. It is an exhortation to the soul to arise and draw near to partake of the Heavenly Food and to meditate on the wonders of Heavenly Love; ending with a prayer for final reception at the Eternal Feast. It soon attained, and still retains, popularity in Germany (in many German churches it is still the unvarying hymn at the celebration), was one of the first hymns tr. into Malabar, and passed into English in 1754.
It has been translated into English as:—
1. Come, soul, thyself adorning. A free translation by E. Jackson of st. i., vii., viii., as No. 199 in Dr. Hook's Church School Hymn Book, 1850.
2. Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness. A good translation, omitting st. iii., vi., viii., by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 2nd Ser. 1858, p. 94. Included in full in Cantate Domino, Boston, U. S., 1859, the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880. &c, and, omitting st. vi., in Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1876. In Kennedy, 1863, st. iv.-vi. beginning "Here I sink before Thee lowly," were given as No. 660, and the same in the Christian Hymn Book, Cincinnati, 1865.
3. Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness. By Miss Winkworth, in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 93. This is her Lyra Germanica version rewritten to the original metre. This form is found in the Clifton College Hymn Book, 1872, and the Evangelical Hymnal, N. Y., 1880.
4. Soul, arise, dispel Thy sadness. A translation of st. i., iv., ix. by Miss Borthwick as No. 259 in Dr. Pagenstecher's Collection, 1864, repeated in Hymns from the Land of Luther, 1884, p. 263.
Other trs. are: (1) "Trim thy Lamp, O Soul betrothed," as No. 468 in pt. i. of the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754. (2) " Soul, at this most awful season," rewritten from the 1754 as No. 558 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1789 (1849, No. 964). (3) "Leave, my Soul, the shades of darkness," in Lyra Eucharistica, 1863, p. 88, signed "Sister B." [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Schmucke dich, O liebe Seele, p. 1017 i,
Another translation is:—
Deck thee, 0 my soul, with gladness, by G. R. Woodward, in his Songs of Syon, 1904, No. 76.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
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Johann Franck (b. Guben, Brandenburg, Germany, 1618; d. Guben, 1677) was a law student at the University of Köningsberg and practiced law during the Thirty Years' War. He held several positions in civil service, including councillor and mayor of Guben. A significant poet, second only to Paul Gerhardt in his day, Franck wrote some 110 hymns, many of which were published by his friend Johann Crüger in various editions of the Praxis Pietatis melica. All were included in the first part of Franck’s Teutsche Gedichte bestehend im geistliche Sion (1672).
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