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"O wir armen Sünder" (O we poor sinners), is based on Martin Luther's 1528 Litany refrain still in use today, "Wir armen Sünder bitten, du wollst uns erhören, lieber Herre Gott" (We poor sinners pray that you may be willing to hear us, dear Lord God), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale064-Eng3.htm. The Hermann Bonnus Passion hymn with the Kyrie refrain in six four-line irregular stanzas (Salzburg 1532) is based upon the Lucas Lossius c.1530 "O du armer Judas" (O you wretched Judas) in Psalmodia (Lüneburg 1561) with the associated anonymous melody (Königsberg 1527), "Ach, wir armen Menschen," dating to c1350, Rex Christe Factor omnium (O Christ, Our King, Creator, Lord, Zahn 314b), found in the NLGB No. 64 for Passiontide. "O wir armen Sünder" is found in the NLGB as No. 68, Passiontide (Zahn 8187) with music (https://books.google.com/books?id=UmVkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA138#v=onepage&q&f=false). Bach set the hymn as a plain chorale, BWV 407 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0407.htm), as well as the melody also identified as "Ehre sei dir, Christe, der du leidest Not" (Honour to you, Christ, you who suffered distress, Laus tibi, Christe qui pateris), the last stanza of "O wir armen Sünder," first published in Cyriakus Spangenberg's Christlichs Gesangbuch (1568, https://hymnary.org/text/ehre_sei_dir_christe_der_du_littest_not, which includes his melody for "Christe, du bist der helle Tag" (EG 469). "Christe, du bist der helle Tag" is found in the Neumeister organ chorale prelude, BWV 1097 (music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFEX2IpVvJc), and is set in the Orgelbüchlein as No. 5, BWV 603, for Advent with the alternate incipit, “Puer natus in Bethlehem” (Zahn 192b, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzYYHWN4cpw) and OB 31 as "O wir armen Sünder" for Passiontide but not set.
Source: Passiontide Devotional Chorales, Other Weiße Hymns (William L. Hoffman, February 20, 2018) |
