NUN KOMM, DER HEIDEN HEILAND

Composer: Martin Luther

NUN KOMM DER HEIDEN HEILAND is a chorale derived from a chant. Among the simplest of the Lutheran repertoire, it is framed by identical lines–l and 4. Sing the entire hymn with antiphonal groups (the practice its original Latin author, Ambrose, strongly promoted). Sing some stanzas in unison and others in harmony. Always reserve stanza 7, the doxology, for a strong unison with full accompaniment. Play this music in two long lines to match the couplet structure of the textual lines.

The tune dates from a twelfth- or thirteenth-century Einsiedeln manuscript. Presumably by Johann Walther (PHH 398), the adaptation of the tune was published in the 1524 Erfurt Enchiridia. Johann S. Bach (PHH 7) used the tune for preludes in the Clavierübung and Orgelbüchlein and in his cantatas 36 and 62.

The harmonization in the Psalter Hymnal comes from Seth Calvisius's Hymni Sacri (1594). Originally named Seth Kalwitz, Calvisius (b. Gorsleben, Thuringia, Germany, 1556; d. Leipzig, Germany, 1615) became known as the leading music theoretician of his time. He was educated at the universities of Helmstedt and Leipzig and spent much of his life teaching and writing about music history and theory. He taught at the Fürstenschule in Schulpforta from 1582 to 1594 and at the University of Leipzig from 1594 until his death. He also served as cantor at several churches. In addition to his theoretical work, Calvisius wrote psalm and hymn tunes and anthems, and he edited the first hymn book published in Leipzig, Harmonia cantionum ecclesiasticarum (1597).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

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