Jesu, meines Glaubens Zier
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Jesu, meines Glaubens Zier is a German Lutheran hymn by Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer, first published in 1661.[1] Its hymn tune, Zahn No. 6453, was first published in 1714, in Freylinghausen's hymnal.[2] In 1736 the hymn was adopted in Schemellis Gesangbuch, with a figured bass accompaniment which may have been contributed by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 472).[3]
| Jesu, meines Glaubens Zier | |
|---|---|
| Other name | It is finished! Christ hath known |
| Genre | Passion hymn |
| Text | by Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer |
| Language | German |
| Meter | 78.87.87.87 |
| Melody | Anonymous (1714) |
| Published | text: 1661; melody: 1714 |
The tune is also known in English due to its presence in the 1906 English Hymnal and its 1986 successor, where it appears to "It is finished! Christ hath known", a Passion text by Gabriel Gillett[4] written for the 1906 publication and based on Jesus' dying words, per the Gospel of John, "tetelestai" ("It is finished!"),[5] which inspired many other hymns.[6]
Text
The original German text is a Passion hymn[1] in five stanzas of eight lines each.[3] An English-language version of the hymn, not a translation of the original but sharing its rhyme scheme and Passion theme, has three stanzas.[7] The author of that version, who exemplifies the conservative tradition of the beginning of the 20th-century, pleads, in a "very sensitive and beautiful text",[8] for Christ, as maker of human joys and sorrows, to lead his flock upon the same path of self-sacrifice. The poet's tone and theology are medieval in nature, the text as a whole expanding on medieval analogies between Nature and Christian mythology.[9]
Tune
The hymn tune of "Jesu, meines Glaubens Zier" was first published in Freylinghausen's hymnal in 1714.[2] The setting which appears in Schemellis Gesangbuch only consists of a vocal line (melody) and a figured bass.[3] A realisation of this was published in the English Hymnal, and this setting is transcribed below.[7]
