HERMANN, NIKOLAUS: German Evangelical hymn-writer and bomposer; b. at Altdorf (13 m. e.s.e. of Nuremberg) near the end of the fifteenth century; d. at Joachimathal (14 m. n.n.e. of EIbogen in Bohemia) May 3,1561. Shortly after 1516 he became a teacher in the Latin school of the mining town of Joachimsthal. Upon his inquiring whether he should leave his place on account of religious differences, Luther encouraged him to stay. He soon found a strong supporter and friend in the rector of the school, later pastor of the town, Johann Mathesius. Troubled with gout, he was compelled to resign his office, and enjoyed his freedom, which he spent in composing hymns. These, his main work, are found in two probably incomplete collections: Sonntags-Evangelien (Wittenberg, 1560) and Historien von der Sindfludt, etc. (1562). For the matter of his hymns he is dependent on Mathesius, but surpasses him in the form. Judged not by a general standard but with due regard to his uncultivated sense of beauty and the imperfect poetical development of the period, Hermann deserves a place of honor among religious singers. Many of his hymns seem dry rimed prose, as mere mechanical counting of syllables, unpleasantly rude. But his thorough devotion to God, in the spirit of the Bible and the Reformers, his touching simplicity and fervor, his simple sweetness, his deep feeling, his rustic naturalness, not without a touch of humor-all these things compensate in large measure for his defects. He closes the first period of Evangelical religious poetry, whose characteristic expression is the hymn of faith and confession; he paves the way for the didactic and personal, in which he found many followers inferior to himself. His Christmas hymn, " Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, alle gleich" (" Let all together praise our God "), strikes so happily the true note that it remains the purest and heartiest expression of the Christmas joy. Very popular is also his funeral hymn " Wenn mein Stundlein vorhanden ist" (" When my last hour is close at hand "). The bridal song, "Hiefiir, hiefiir, vor eines frommen Breutgams Thar". ("Come forth, come forth, unto a happy bridegroom's door "), is not yet forgotten in the Erzgebirge. He is most happy in his rimes for children. Intimately connected with his duty of precentor is his Latin metrical work for liturgical use. In the Joachimsthal, Latin had been retained as the language of public worship, together with the accentus ecck aiaatici, the musical arrangement for the recital of the lessons. The most remarkable thing in the Joachimsthal liturgy, though not unprecedented, is the retention of the very ancient form of the " prose " in harmony with the contents of the liturgical gospels. These " proses " alone afford an opportunity to know Hermann as Latin rimer, and give evidence also of his skill in. calligraphy. Like many people in those days, Hermann was at once a poet and composer. He also gave a new importance to the chorale, based on the Gregorian plain-chant sung in unison, and composed in .this line himself. It is true that he had no training in technique-he tries nothing more than unpretending two-part songs-and was only a simple leader of popular melody. But his tunes have a childlike, joyous, lovely, always elegant expression, and are easily intelligible. Some may be reckoned among the best of their class, and are still in use, such as " Erschienen ist der herrliche Tag " (" The day hath dawned-the day of days "). Five of his other hymns have been translated and sung in English; and the melody known as "St. George's, old" is by him.

Georg Loesche.

Bibliography: J. C. Wetsel, Hymnopographia, i. 413, Nuremberg, 1719; J. Mfltsell,.Geiatliche Lieder der evangeli eehen Kirche, pp. 401-449 Berlin, 1855; P. Wackernagel, Bibliographie our Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenliedes, pp. 303-308, 322-324 Frankfort, 1855; G. Loesche, Zur Agenda won Joachimatha4 pp. 183-170, "Sion&," 1892; idem. Nikolaua Hermann. Rini Mandat, O Jeeu Christi, 1908; ADB, xii. 188; Julian, Hymnology, 513-514.