Jump to content

Nun freue dich, du Christenheit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Gerda Arendt (talk | contribs) at 13:09, 29 April 2018 (External links: can become ref). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

"Nun freue dich, du Christenheit"
German Catholic Easter hymn
LanguageGerman
Published1975 (1975)

"Nun freue dich, du Christenheit" (Now be joyful, you Christendom) is a Catholic hymn for Easter. Going back to 1390, it appeared first in the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob of 1975, later in several regional sections of the Gotteslob.

History

The current hymn goes back to around 1390, when a Ein Mainzer Prozessionale (A Mainz processional]], meaning a book of processional hymns) has a chant with the incipit "Disse oisterliche dage" (These Easter days). The five stanzas appear as verses of the Marian antiphon "Regina celi letare". A Breslau manuscript from 1478 lists three stanzas which are related to three stanzas of the Mainz source (1,2,5) but in reverse order, now beginning "Frew dich, alle Christenheit" (Be joyful, all Christendom).[1]

The hymn, now "Freu dich, du werte Christenheit", became part of the Einheitslieder [de] of 1947, in an attempt to unify Catholic hymn singing in German. The current text, finally "Nun freue dich, du Christenheit", was adapted for the first common Catholic hymnal, the Gotteslob of 1975, which had the hymn in its common section. The following edition Gotteslob of 2013 has it no longer in the common section, but in 19 of the 24 regional sections. The Diocese of Mainz has it as GL 817.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Albert-Zerlik, Annette. "Nun freue dich, du Christenheit (GL Mainz 817)" (in German). Diocese of Mainz. Retrieved 29 April 2018.