MEINE HOFFNUNG

Adapter and Harmonizer: J. S. Bach

Born at Eisenach into a musical family and in a town steeped in Reformation history, he received early musical training from his father and older brother, and elementary education in the classical school Luther had earlier attended. Throughout his life he made extraordinary efforts to learn from other musicians. At 15 he walked to Lüneburg to work as a chorister and study at the convent school of St. Michael. From there he walked 30 miles to Hamburg to hear Johann Reinken, and 60 miles to Celle to become familiar with French composition and performance traditions. Once he obtained a month's leave from his job to hear Buxtehude, but stayed nearly four months. He arranged compositions from Vivaldi and other Italian masters. His own co… Go to person page >

Composer: Joachim Neander

Neander, Joachim, was born at Bremen, in 1650, as the eldest child of the marriage of Johann Joachim Neander and Catharina Knipping, which took place on Sept. 18, 1649, the father being then master of the Third Form in the Paedagogium at Bremen. The family name was originally Neumann (… Go to person page >

MEINE HOFFNUNG received its name from its association with Joachim Neander's (PHH 244) text "Meine Hoffnung stehet feste" ("All My Hope on God Is Founded"). The tune was published with Newton's text in Neander's Alpha and Omega (1680). (The chorale found in Johann S. Bach's Cantata 40 is very loosely based on MEINE HOFFNUNG.)

To reflect the emphases in the text, sing stanzas 1 and 3 in unison and stanzas 2 and 4 in harmony. Singers and accompanists should note the built-in ritardando in the final long line; no further expressive device needs to be added in the final stanza.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook