Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt

The German Cornelius Becker, who was a Lutheran pastor in Leipzig, wrote the text of "Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt" in the 17th century as a metred paraphrase of Psalm 23 in German, first published in 1598 in the collection Cantionum Ecclesiasticarum.^[1] He published it again in 1602 in the collection that became known as the Becker Psalter, of all psalms in his metred versions.^[2][3] Heinrich Schütz composed four-part settings of these metres psalm texts.^[3] The setting of this hymn, using a 1529 melody from Wittenberg,^[2] was assigned SWV 120 in his works list.

Johann Sebastian Bach included the first of its three stanzas in his 1724 cantata Du Hirte Israel, höre, BWV 104,^[1][4] as the concluding chorale for also four voices, using the melody of "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr", the German Gloria.^[5] He included the same stanza a year later as the third movement of Ich bin ein guter Hirt, BWV 85, this time for a soprano singer with the same melody slightly embellished.^[6]

The hymn is contained in a regional section of the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch and in the hymnal of the Herrnhut Brethren.^[2]

• Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt, SWV 120 (Heinrich Schütz): Free scores at the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• J.S. Bach, Kantate BWV 104: Nr. 6 Choral "Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt" / Kay Johannsen on YouTube