GERHARD TONQUE. See John, Saint, Order of Hospitalers of.
GERHARDT, g&r'hdrt, PAULUS: The foremost of German hymn-writers; b. at Grafenhainichen (10 m. s. w.of Wittenberg), Electoral Saxony, Mar. 12, 1607; d. at Lübben (40 m. s.w. of Frankfort-on-the-Oder) June 7, 1676. He studied at Wittenberg from 1628, but, probably owing to the disorders of war, it was not until 1651 that he
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Gerhardt is the most gifted author of religious songs whom the German Church has ever known. In him, more than in any other, all the requisites for this style of poetry are united. He possessed a firm conviction of the objective truth of the Christian doctrine of salvation and also a genuine sentiment for all that is purely human; deep Christian feeling coupled with sterling good sense; and a fresh and healthy appreciation of life in nature and in mind. In addition to all this, his hymns possess a beauty of form in which the influence of the progress in technique initiated by Opitz can be traced. In the history of religious poetry Gerhardt marks the beginning of a new era; with him sacred poetry assumes a strongly personal character. This was later corrupted by mystical and rationalistic tendencies, but with Gerhardt it always remained in full accord with the objective realities of religious faith. It is characteristic that out of his 120 hymns not leas than sixteen begin with " I," and of the rest more than sixty concern only his own heart and God. In the hymns of the Reformation period the Church is the exclusive subject and object of religious song and the personal note is only rarely sounded. This quality of Gerhardt's hymns is, however, merely the concrete individual form in which Christian faith and Christian life, a common possession of Christ's Church, find expression. As another characteristic of Gerhardt's hymns may be noted the purely human sentiment that animates them. He sings of summer and harvest, of travel and marriage, indeed of the whole of life in nature (cf. his hymn to summer, " Go forth, my heart, and seek for joy"). His whole view of nature, and especially of nature's accord with religious life, is absolutely unaffected and therefore harmonious. In spite of his delicacy of feeling, however, Gerhardt did not altogether escape the influence of the taste of his time; there are parts of his hymns which must to-day be considered harsh and even tasteless. Not satisfied, however, with removing these real blemishes, the critics of a later time, in their emendations, ruthlessly trod under foot all that was most beautiful in the garden of Gerhardt's poesy and transplanted thither their own thistles. This age has given proof of a better historical sense by turning back lovingly to the "unadulterated" Gerhardt.
Gerhardt did not himself collect or publish his hymns. Most of them appeared for the first time in Johann Criiger s Praxis pietatia melica (let and 2d eds. not known; 3d ed., Berlin, 1648). The first complete collection was the work of Johann Georg Ebeling, in ten parts, each containing twelve hymns with tunes (Frankfort-on-the-Oder and Berlin, 1666 and 1667). Among later editions that of J. H. Feustking (Zerbst, 1707) deserves attention because the editor claims that he has corrected the text "according to a copy revised by the author's very hand." Of the more recent critical editions mention may be made of that by J. F. Bachmann (Berlin, 1866), and that of Karl Goedeke (Deutsche Dichter des aiebzehnlen Jahrhunderts, vol, viii., Leipsic, 1877). The best is the latest edition by August Ebeling (Hanover and Leipsic, 1898), in which for the first time the fifth edition of the Praxis pietatia melica could be used for the restoration of the text (cf. Ebeling's essay, Wo iet der Originaltext der Paul Gerhardt'achen Lieder zu findea 1 in O. Lyon's Zeib schrift /fir den deutschen Unterricht, xi., 1897, pp. 745-783).
Many of Gerhardt's hymns have been incorporated in English collections of hymns or of devotional poetry, and one of them, "O sacred Head now wounded," an adaptation of a hymn attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (q.v.), is widely known and frequently sung. Other familiar ones begin," Ohl how shall I receive thee; " " Commit thou all thy griefs," and "Give to the winds thy fears." More than thirty of his hymns are classical. His English translators include John Wesley, Miss C. Winkworth, James W. Alexander, and John Kelly, who has furnished a complete translation, Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs (London, 1867).
Bibliography:
The editions of the poems and hymns by
J. F. Bachmann, K. Goedeke, and A. Eberling contain
discussions of the fife of Gerhardt. For his
life consult
also: E. G. Roth, Paul Gerhardt, Leipsic, 1829; F. W.
Krummacher, in Piper's Evangelischer Kalender, pp. 204
sqq., Berlin, 1866; E. Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenliedes,
iii. 297-327, Stuttgart, 1867; K. Goedeke, Zur Geschichte
der deutschen Dichtung, iii. 182, Dresden, 1887; ADB,
viii. 774-783; E. Achelis, in the Blatter für Hymnolo&,
1884, pp. 51 sqq., 71 sqq. More popular lives are those
by C. E. Wildenhahn, Leipsic, 1845, and A. Stein, Halle,
1897. Consult also S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, pp.
21 et passim, New York, 1886; Julian, Hymnology, pp.
409-412. The celebration in Germany in 1907 of the
300th anniversary of Gerhardt's birth educed a number
of monographs of great merit, including: P. Wernle's
Paulus Gerhardt, Tübingen, 1907; G. Kawerau's address,
Halle, 1907; and H. Petrieh, Paul Gerhardt, seine Liader
und seine Zeit, Gütersloh, 1907; R. Hupfeld, Die Ethik
Johann Gerharda. Ein
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