Four of the five creative people who had a hand in the present version of this hymn were named “Johann” or “John,” and the fifth was Johnson! The hymn was first published in Johann Rist’s Himmlische Lieder (Heavenly Songs), 1641. Johann Rist was born March 8, 1607, in Ottensen, near Hamburg, Germany. Dedicated to the Lord by his pastor-father, Rist studied theology at the University of Rinteln. While tutoring for a family in Hamburg, he studied medicine, and later combined spiritual and physical healing in his ministry. While he was a Protestant pastor at Wedel, near Hamburg, the Thirty Years’ War occasioned much suffering; he lost all his personal property, including his musical instruments and the organ in his church. He wrote some 680 hymns on nearly every theological subject, and was crowned poet laureate by Emperor Ferdinand Ill in 1644. Six collections of his hymns were p^ublished from 1641 to 1656, as well as secular plays and poems. He died August 31, 1667.

John Troutbeck, born November 12, 1832, in Blencow, England, translated Bach’s Christmas Oratorio from German to English for Novello and Company, London; this first stanza is from that work. He was a graduate of Oxford, precentor of Manchester Cathedral, and chaplain to the queen. Death came in London October 11, 1899.

The original poem in German had 12 eight-line stanzas; the SDAH’s first stanza is number 9, with the music as harmonized and used by Bach in his Christmas Oratorio. SDAH’s second stanza first appeared in Hymns for the Family of God, 1976, and was written by Norman E. Johnson, who was born July 4, 1928, in Smolan, Kansas, and went to Bethany College at Lindsborg. While attending North Park Seminary, Johnson was staff musician at radio station WMBI, Chicago. A master’s degree in church music was conferred on him by the University of Southern California. He served as youth director and organist at Covenant Church, Turlock, California; minister of music at Evangelical Covenant Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for 17 years; senior music editor of Singspiration, Inc., for 20 years; and assisted in editing several llYIÄM1als published from 1964 to 1979. A member of the Covenant Hymnal ConMÄ1ission, he contributed two texts, five tunes, and 25 arrangements to that book. HC died at Grand Rapids, Michigan, December 19, 1983.

The name ERMUJNTRE DICH comes from the German hymn’s first line, ”Ermuntre dich mein schwacher Geist” (“Be cheerful, my faint heart”). The tune, originally written in 3/4 time, was first published with Rist’s text in his book mentioned above. Johann Schop, the musical editor for the book, was probably born at Hamburg, Germany, about 1590. He became an accomplished performer on the organ, violin, Jute, trumpet, and trombone in the court orchestra at Wolfenbuttel. In 1621 he was appointed director of municipal music at Hamburg, and organist at St. James’ Church. He wrote a large body of cantatas and instrumental music, and many hymn tunes for his friend Johann Rist, which were appreciated and used during his time. His most famous melody is the one used by Bach in his “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” His death dates vary from 1664 to 1667. The harmonization is by J. S. Bach (1685-1750).