Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her

"Vom Himmel hoch" was first published as a hymn with 15 stanzas of four lines in the Wittenberg Hymnal of 1535, under the header "Ein kinderlied auff die Weinacht Christi" ("A children's song on the Nativity of Christ"). In that publication, the text was coupled to the melody of the then well-known secular song "Ich kumm aus frembden Landen her," Zahn 345.[3] It was Luther's only contrafactum, reusing a tune of a secular composition for a religious text.[2][4]

In 1539, the hymn was published with a new melody, Zahn 346,[3] that was probably composed by Luther himself, in Geistliche lieder / auffs new gebessert und gemehrt /zu Witteberg. D. Marti. Luther. Viel Geistliche gesenge / von andern frommen Christen gemacht. Gedruckt zu Leyptzick durch Valten Schumann (Spiritual Songs / newly improved and extended / … made by other pious Christians …). This is the melody generally associated with the text:[2]

Chorale prelude No. 8 in Johann Pachelbel's Erster Theil etlicher Choräle (the "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm' ich her" melody appears as a cantus firmus in the bass)

From the second half of the 16th century the melody appeared in organ compositions, for instance by Johannes Eccard, Adam Gumpelzhaimer, Hans Leo Hassler, Michael Praetorius, Samuel Scheidt (Görlitzer Tabulaturbuch, 1650) and Heinrich Scheidemann.[2] Early 17th century four-part chorale harmonizations include those by Jacob Praetorius, Hassler and Calvisius.[11] Later organ compositions include those by Johann Pachelbel (chorale preludes, one of them printed in his Erster Theil etlicher Choräle c. 1693) and by Georg Böhm ("Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her").

Johann Hermann Schein made a setting of "Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her" for three voices and continuo, the unaltered 1539 melody being given to the tenor voice. Sebastian Knüpfer wrote a cantata Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her for six vocal soloists, choir and orchestra.[1] Johann Christoph Bach set six stanzas of "Vom Himmel hoch" in his motet Merk auf, mein Herz und sieh dorthin, BWV Anh. 163.[12] Also Johann Mattheson included "Vom Himmel hoch" in his Christmas Oratorio Die heilsame Geburt und Menschwerdung unsers Herrn und Heilandes Jesu Christi (1715).[1]

Incipits of Bach's five variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her", BWV 769, the theme appearing, for instance, as a cantus firmus for pedal in the first variation

Johann Sebastian Bach set the first stanza of "Vom Himmel hoch" as one of four laudes added to the Christmas 1723 version of his Magnificat. He also used the melody three times in his Christmas Oratorio (1734).[1][13] The chorale Ach, mein herzliebes Jesulein, which uses stanza 13 of Luther's hymn, closes Part I of the oratorio.[14][13] Bach wrote chorale preludes based on "Vom Himmel hoch", notably BWV 606 in his Orgelbüchlein, 700, 701, 738 and 738a. In 1747 he used the chorale theme for his Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her" (BWV 769).[15]

Carl Maria von Weber's first composition was a setting for organ of "Vom Himmel hoch".[16] In 1831 Felix Mendelssohn wrote a chorale cantata Vom Himmel hoch, MWV A 10, based on Luther's hymn.[2] Later he incorporated the melody in the incidental music for Racine's Athalie, Op. 74 (1845), and his sister Fanny cited it in the "December" piece of her piano cycle Das Jahr.[1] Also Otto Nicolai's Christmas Overture was based on "Vom Himmel hoch."[17]

A 1910 Fugue on the chorale "Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her" is by Immanuel Faisst. Other composers citing "Vom Himmel hoch" include Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Ernst Pepping und Hugo Distler.[1] Max Reger composed a chorale prelude as No. 40 of his 52 Chorale Preludes, Op. 67 in 1902. He quotes the tune in the Christmas section of his organ pieces Sieben Stücke, Op. 145. Igor Stravinsky wrote "Chorale Variations on 'Vom Himmel hoch'" for choir and orchestra (1956), which was an arrangement of Bach's canonic variations, adding extra contrapuntal lines.[18]

"Enkeli taivaan", the Finnish version of "Vom Himmel Hoch", appears in Act 2, scene five of Luther, an opera by Kari Tikka that premiered in 2000. The English-language version of the opera, brought to the United States in 2001, contains seven stanzas of "From heav´n above to earth I come." The opera premiered in Germany in 2004 containing stanzas of "Vom Himmel hoch" in the original language.[19][20]

Valentin Triller, a Protestant vicar, published a reworked version of the hymn with an additional introductory stanza in 1555, reverting to the "Ich kumm aus frembden Landen her" melody. This version, known by its new first line, "Es kam ein Engel hell und klar", found its way to Catholic songbooks in the 16th century, although such printings of the song would not always contain all eighteen stanzas of Triller's version and would also start to adopt Luther's 1539 singing tune again.[2]

The 1567 second edition of The Gude and Godlie Ballatis (the good and godly ballads) contained a Scottish translation of "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her" under the header "Followis ane sang of the birth of Christ, with the tune of Baw lula low" (Here follows a song of the birth of Christ, [to be sung] on the tune of Balulalow).[2] The first line of this translation reads "I come from heuin to tell" (I come from heaven to tell).[10]

The thirteenth and fourteenth stanza of this were considered a Scottish lullaby, "Oh, my deir hert, young Jesus sweit" (Oh, my dear heart, young Jesus sweet).[21] As "Balulalow" these two stanzas were set to music for instance by Benjamin Britten as No. 4b in A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28 (1942).[22] Peter Warlock had already set the same lyrics in 1919.[23]

Popular interpretations followed, for instance by Loreena McKennitt (To Drive the Cold Winter Away, 1987), by Sting (If on a Winter's Night..., 2009), and by the French band Revolver.

"From Heaven on High the Angels Sing" is sometimes indicated as a translation of "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her."[24] It is however a translation of "Vom Himmel hoch, o Engel, kommt", a song also known as "Susani", first published in the early 17th century, with a different tune.[25][26] Apart from the Christmas setting derived from Luke 2:1–18, the "Susani" repeated in this song also likens it to the "Susaninne" of the fourteenth stanza of "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her."[27] There are however many other hymns, including older and English ones, with similar likenesses, e.g. the fourteenth century "A Little Child There Is Ybore", "A Little Child There Is Yborn", "Gloria Tibi Domine", and Luther's 1543 "Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schar".[24] The last one is usually sung to the "Vom Himmel hoch" melody,[7] or, alternatively, to the "Puer natus in Bethlehem" hymn tune, Zahn 192a.[28]

"Ett barn är fött på denna dag" is a Swedish Christmas song partly based on the "Vom Himmel hoch" hymn.