German: Jesus mit seinen Juengern am Meere

Subject: German: anyone recognize this lyric?
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Apr 19 - 12:56 PM

This is a Christian lyric, in German,
and no one knows where it came from.

It turns up in the vocal music composed by
Carl Loewe.
This nineteenth-century Lieder composer is very discriminating
in his choice of song lyrics,
he is not like Schubert who would set anything and everything to music.

So it's a little ... odd ... that composer Loewe obscures
the origin of the words of his song.
I wonder if maybe Loewe wrote the words himself and
didn't want to say as much??

Anyway the lyric is simple and direct, part of its appeal.
This is the familiar story from the Gospel,
about Jesus calming the wind and the waves
while in a boat on open water
[NOT the walking-on-water story -- a different incident]

Lyrics begin in next post.

Subject: RE: German: anyone recognize this lyric?
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Apr 19 - 01:03 PM

JESUS MIT SEINEN JÜNGERN AM MEERE

Süßer Schlaf umfing den Müden,
Der für unsre Sünde litt.
Ach! er schlummerte in Frieden,
Als schon Sturm und woge stritt.

Und das Schiff erfüllt ein Zagen,
Denn sie alle dräut Gefahr,
Und es tönen bange Klagen,
Ob schon Hülfe nahe war.

"Hilf uns, Herr, denn wir verderben,"
Ruft der Jammernden Gebet;
Doch das Wort muß schnell ersterben,
Da der Heiland aufersteht.

"O, wie seid ihr klein im Glauben!
Hat euch so die Furcht bethört?
Keine Woge kann das rauben,
Was dem Himmel angehört."

Seht den Herrn den Sturm gebeiten,
Und das Schreckensbild entwich;
Fluthen hören auf zu wüten,
Und die Wogen ebnen sich.

Preis musß solch ein Wunder lohnen!
Welch ein Gott ist dieser Mann?
Sind doch alle Regionen,
Luft und Meer ihm unterthan.

Subject: RE: German: anyone recognize this lyric?
From: MudGuard
Date: 02 Apr 19 - 01:30 PM

It seems to be a "biblical folk legend" (biblische Volkslegende).

see google book, go to "Page 61".


btw, Carl Loewe has written music to many poems by Friedrich Rückert, who is a brother of one of my great-great-great-great-father ...

Greetings from Munich,Germany.
Andreas a/k/a MudGuard

Subject: RE: German: anyone recognize this lyric?
From: MudGuard
Date: 02 Apr 19 - 01:32 PM

it should be great-great-great-grand-father.

Subject: RE: German: anyone recognize this lyric?
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 02 Apr 19 - 05:45 PM

Massive respect, MudGuard!
Rückert is one of my all time favorite poets in any language,
and one of my favorite human beings as well.

Yes, and some of Loewe's most entertaining, delightful songs
are settings of Rückert;
I am partial to one which I started a Mudcat Thread about,
some years back, about the minister's two daughters.

Your link goes to the critical edition of Carl Loewe's
compositions for the voice.
Dr. Max Runge, who did the editing, printed pages of commentary and notes that touch on every song in the edition.
I did note Dr. Runge's remarks on the Biblische Volkslegende.
The editor had more to say about the melody (which he recognized from other songs)
than about the text;
about the words, Runge said that whoever wrote the words
thought it best not to reveal himself,
whatever that might mean.

There was no comment that the song lyric might be recognizable
from any earlier source,
except of course for the Scriptures themselves.

So I guess the mystery is one that will not be solved.

Subject: RE: German: anyone recognize this lyric?
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 02 Apr 19 - 06:36 PM

Here is my wild guess: it was Loewe's sister-in-law "Talvj". Prove me wrong if you can.

Subject: RE: German: anyone recognize this lyric?
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Apr 19 - 07:11 PM

Not so wild after all, Grishka,
and I can see how it could have happened!
Though I still have much to learn about the composer,
I recall what I looked up and learned about Carl Loewe's life.

He married twice; his first wife was indeed
a lady with the maiden name/ family name "von Jakob," and
the redoubtable "Talvj" would be her sister.
Before the wife died, far too young,
she brought their son into the world.
I forget at which moment the sister-in-law
became a surrogate mother to Loewe's motherless son.

But I do recall that when "Talvj" and her husband set off
for her husband's native United States,
Loewe's son was part of the household
and he was raised very much as their child.

Loewe was very busy with his career, and it was a while
before his second marriage.
Between one thing and another,
father and son parted company early in the son's childhood.
And they remained distant even though they were not estranged,
just by being in different households in different continents.

Yes, it could very well have been the sister-in-law,
a woman of very respectable birth in a time and place
when women writers were still discriminated against,
and a writer who found covert ways to get around
the obstacles in the way of her writing.

Subject: RE: German: Jesus mit seinen Juengern am Meere
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 03 Apr 19 - 02:31 PM

More on Grishka's suggestion of
Theresa Albertine Luise von Jacob,
also known as 'talvj'.

The LiederNet Archive, where I am one of many volunteers,
lists amongst Carl Loewe's song titles,
nine songs with lyrics attributed to 'Talvj."

The song in this thread is not among them,
but plainly there is a precedent at least.