Praise and thanks to God—like singing itself—have been of central importance for theology and piety ever since the beginning. In particular, in more recent spiritual life, praise and gratitude have gained an ever greater significance; especially communal singing has increasingly, for some time now, been shaped by these themes. At times, it seems as though hardly anything else is left.
This volume addresses this important topic and presents twelve influential Protestant hymns of praise and thanks from the 16th and 17th centuries—hymns that, depending on the song, are offered in at least one and up to three musical versions from the Baroque period. In total, 20 compositions are provided in the form of (figured) general-bass and choir-song settings.
All of them—except for one—come from the circle of the Freylinghausen hymnbook *Gesangbuch*, Halle (since 1704), and Johann Crüger’s *PRAXIS PIETATIS MELICA*, Berlin (since 1640). They will appeal both to specialists in music and to laypeople alike, and they can also be readily handled by readers who are not experts, particularly with the latter source.
The hymn texts are reproduced according to the sources and are in no way modernized or shortened.
The underlying concept is that none of the twelve hymns is presented in the version that is, in fact, the oldest occurrence of the hymn. In each individual case, therefore, a younger version is provided. A subsequent commentary section explains the chosen versions, addressing both differences among them as well as deviations from the original and other versions, just as it also discusses points of agreement between the presented variants. Accordingly, the accompanying explanatory texts are also primarily geared toward understanding the selected hymn versions.
An extensive introduction by Dr. theol. Marianne Schröter describes in particular the intellectual-historical situation in which the church hymn flourished during the Reformation era, and its influence on later periods. Image reproductions related to the content—primarily reproductions taken from the prints used—offer a small glimpse into the world of Baroque hymnbooks and round off the volume.
