ARNSBERG (also known as GOTT IST GEGENWÄRTIG and WUNDERBARER KÖNIG) was composed by Joachim Neander (b. Bremen, Germany, 1650; d. Bremen, 1680) and published in his Glaub- und Liebesübung (1680) for his hymn “Wunderbarer König.” This bar-form (AAB) tune has undergone both rhythmic and melodic change in earlier hymnals. Keep it rhythmic, with a moving tempo. Observe the full length of the whole notes at the ends of the first two long phrases and extend the final chord into a whole note. For stanza 2 try a solo registration on the melody line with a lighter accompaniment – or unaccompanied – and with the congregation singing in harmony.

Before writing this hymn, Neander had scoffed at his religious upbringing and led a careless, licentious life as a student in Bremen. One Sunday in 1670 he and his friends attended a service at St. Martin’s Church – mainly to criticize and mock the preacher. However, he came under the spell of Theodore Under-Eyck’s preaching and was converted from his wayward life. Enamored with Pietism, Neander associated with the Pietist leader Spener in Frankfurt. In 1674 Neander became headmaster of the Latin School in Düsseldorf and conducted pastoral duties in the Calvinistic congregation.

But his Pietist leanings prompted him to organize separate church services and to abstain from the Lord’s Supper. These practices forced the authorities to suspend him in 1677. After recanting his views, Neander returned to his ordinary duties. But he was no longer happy in Düsseldorf, and he gladly accepted the opportunity to become Under-Eyck’s assistant at St. Martin’s Church in Bremen in 1679. He died soon afterward of tuberculosis. Neander loved nature and would often go for long walks. In fact, the valley of Düssel near Mettmann was named Neanderthal after him; in 1856 a skeleton of a “Neanderthal man” was found there, and that coincidence has produced a number of apocryphal stories about Neander. He wrote about sixty hymn texts and some tunes, published in Alpha und Omega (1680, expanded posthumously, 1689).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook