In dulci jubilo

translated as
Now sing we, now rejoice
Good Christian men, rejoice

I. Background & Earliest Evidence

The earliest known reference to the song was made by Heinrich Seuse (Henry Suso, 1295–1366), a German friar of the Dominican Order, in his autobiography (Leben Seuses, or Vita), which was prepared ca. 1360–1366 while he was living in Ulm. The oldest manuscript copy is held by the Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire in Strasbourg, France, MS 2929, dated 1370. The standard scholarly edition of this is by Karl Bihlmeyer, Heinrich Seuse: Deutsche Schriften (Stuttgart: W. Kholhammer, 1907). English translations include Thomas Francis Knox, The Life of Blessed Henry Suso by Himself (1865), and more recently, Frank Tobin, Henry Suso: The Exemplar (1989). From Knox’s edition, we find the following story:

Now, on the night before the feast of All Angels, it seemed to him in a vision that he heard angelic strains and sweet heavenly melody, and this filled him with such gladness that he forgot all his sufferings. Then one of the angels said to him, “Behold, with what joy thou dost hear us sing the song of eternity; even so, with like joy, do we hear thee sing the song of the venerable Eternal Wisdom.” He added further: “This is a portion of the song which the dear elect saints will sing joyously at the last day, when they shall see themselves confirmed in the everlasting bliss of eternity.” . . .

Now this same angel came up to the Servitor right blithely, and said that God had sent them down to him, to bring him heavenly joys amid his sufferings, adding that he must cast off all his sorrows from his mind and bear them company, and that he must also dance with them in heavenly fashion. Then they drew the Servitor by the hand into the dance, and the youth began a joyous ditty about the infant Jesus, which runs thus: “In dulci jubilo,” &c. When the Servitor heard the dear Name of Jesus sounding thus sweetly, he became so blithesome in heart and feeling, that the very memory of his sufferings vanished. It was a joy to him to see how exceeding loftily and freely they bounded in the dance. The leader of the song knew right well how to guide them, and he sang first, and they sang after him in the jubilee of their hearts. Thrice the leader repeated the burden [refrain] of the song, “Ergo merito,” &c. This dance was not of a kind like those which are danced in this world, but it was a heavenly movement, swelling up and falling back again into the wild abyss of God’s hiddenness.[1]

From this we see (1) Seuse did not claim to write the song himself, and (2) he did not provide the entire song, only two brief snippets. Accordingly, scholars generally believe the song had already been in circulation, such that Seuse’s readers would have recognized it from his mere reference to it.

Regarding the vision’s inclusion of dancing, Robin Leaver noted:

Although the details recorded here [by Seuse] are visionary, they nevertheless vividly reflect the dance connections of medieval carols, with their responsorial style in which the dancers sing phrases after the leader. The dance connection was still strong two hundred years later, as reflected in the use of the term “springen” (“leap,” “skip”) in such Lutheran Christmas hymns as “Vom Himmel hoch” and “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimmen.” Indeed, in many Lutheran parishes in the late sixteenth century, it was still customary for the children to dance in the sanctuary in front of a crib placed before the altar, while “In dulci jubilo” was sung.[2]

Similarly, considering the meaning of the opening phrase, “In dulci jubilo,” Carl Daw averred:

The noun here is the root of the English word “jubilation” and refers to the timeless way ecstatic human beings have uttered nonlexical shouts of joy, sometimes identified by the etymologically related term “ululation.”[3]

II. Manuscript Sources

For a list of 32 early manuscripts, see Anne-Dore Harzer (2006). See also the list in Gisela Kornrumpf (2000). The manuscript record reflects two early traditions of the song, one being a ten-phrase version with a double melody, the other being the shorter, eight-phrase version with a single melody, which would become the version adopted into German hymnals. The longer version seems to be the version known to Seuse, owing to its use of the phrase “Ergo merito” (“Therefore, deservedly”). Seven of the earliest relevant manuscripts of the song are as follows:

1. Wissenschaftliche Stadtbibliothek Mainz, Hs I 164

This is a codex formerly owned by the Carthusian monastery of Michaelsberg in Mainz, compiled in ten segments (or fascicles). The last of these sections, which contains a series of verses in Latin, was made ca. 1380–1400. “O dulcis jubilo” appears at the top of folio 200v in four stanzas, without music. This is the earliest known copy of the text. This version of the song contains 10 lines or phrases.

Fig. 1. Wissenschaftliche Stadtbibliothek Mainz, Hs I 164, fol. 200v

2. Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 1305

This manuscript from Silesia was dated ca. 1420 by Clytus Gottwald (1964), based on watermark evidence. The song appears on folio 116r. The text has six stanzas, as indicated by the use of red ink. Each stanza has seven phrases, except for the fifth stanza, which has only five phrases. The first three stanzas here correspond to the first three from the Mainz text. The musical staff is marked with C and F, the melody starting on F. The absence of flats implies Lydian mode. The rhythm contains alternations of short and long notes, implying triple time. In this form, it is clearly recognizable as a predecessor of the modern version of the tune. This is regarded as the oldest surviving manuscript of the tune.

Fig. 2. Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 1305, fol. 116r

3. Darmstadt, Hessische Landesbibliothek, Hs 2276

This manuscript is from the charterhouse of St. Barbara in Köln, Germany, dated ca. 1440. This version, which appears on folio 43v, contains four stanzas of ten phrases, essentially the same as in Mainz Hs I 164, but this copy bears a melody. The music is on a five-line staff, notated in F major. Under the notation, the first stanza is given twice, but the music is different the second time. A rough facsimile was printed in Gottwald (1964).

4. Bibliothèque royale de Belgique (KBR), Bruxelles, Ms. IV 421

According to the catalog at KBR, this is a “Collection of Latin Treatises, Poems, Chants and Meditations, and Dutch Spiritual Poems, Chants, Rhyming Maxims, Exempla” made by Hasselt Franciscans. KBR dates this to ca. 1445, but Kornrumpf (2000) dates it 1460–1480. The song appears on folios 121v–122v. Like Darmstadt Hs 2276, the song has a long melody, with the first stanza being presented twice, four stanzas in total, ten lines/phrases each. The rhythms are presented in syllabic/isorhythmic fashion. The melody begins on F, but no flats are indicated, which places the tune in Lydian mode.

Fig. 4. Bibliothèque royale de Belgique (KBR), Bruxelles, Ms. IV 421, fols. 121v–122v

5. Augsburg, Universitätsbibliothek, Medinger Gebetbuch, UBA 220/Cod. 14

This manuscript, which was made for the Medingen Abbey, was at one time believed to date to 1340, and it is therefore reported in some commentaries as the earliest known source for the carol, but additional research has led scholars to place the codex after a series of reforms were made at the abbey ca. 1469. Augsburg’s catalog dates the codex as ca. 1475, but Gerard Achten (1987), assigned a wider scope, 1470–1520. The digital copy online is presently missing the relevant pages containing this song. Based on the partial transcription of the tune in Glover (1994), the incipit and notation of the Medingen variant is nearly identical to Leipzig MS 1305.

The manuscript was in the possession of Konrad Ameln in 1985 when he published his study of it. Alan Luff relayed some of the key details:

Ameln’s study contains the Cantio, with four stanzas of ten lines, all set to an unaccompanied melody, with a sixfold “Amen.” The contents of the manuscript indicate that it had been prepared for a nunnery of the Cistercian Order. The language is West Middle German, using the Rhine-Frankish dialect as it was spoken in the district bewteen Mainz and Worms.[6]

6. München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 5023

A choir book dating ca. 1490–1499, with “In dulci iubilo” appearing on folios 37v and 38r. Here the music is in mensural notation, with nearly all of the note values being the same (isorhythmic), except at the final melodic leap and the last note. The text is given in seven stanzas of eight phrases. The first four stanzas follow the same progression as in Leipzig MS 1305. The music is given on a tenor clef, with the melody situated in Phrygian mode, which is highly unusual for this tune. This could be an error on the part of the scribe.

7. Staatsbibliothek Berlin, Ms. germ. oct. 190

This manuscript is described as an Utrechter Liederbuch (songbook from Utrecht), variously dated to the second half or the end of the 15th century. The song appears on folios 13r–14r with mensural notation, starting on F, but no flats are indicated, implying Lydian mode. The rhythms are predominantly duple or isorhythmic. The text is in four stanzas of ten lines, and the first stanza is given twice under the notation, similar to Darmstadt Hs 2276. The text is largely the same as in Mainz Hs I 164 and Darmstadt Hs 2276.

Fig. 6. Staatsbibliothek Berlin, Ms. germ. oct. 190, fols. 13r–14r

III. Early Published Sources

The earliest published source is probably Joseph Klug’s Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert (Wittenberg, 1529), but this edition no longer exists. The tune is known to have appeared in Klug’s 1533 edition of the same hymnal. In a facsimile edition edited by Konrad Ameln, published by Bärenreiter in 1954, Ameln believed the 1533 edition had used the same plates as the 1529 edition (p. 27). Either way, Klug was the first to print the tune. Klug’s text was in three stanzas, using the same first three as generally appear in the manuscript tradition above.

The stanza beginning “O Patris charitas” first appeared in a collection dated 1543, whose only surviving copy (Universitätsbibliothek Bern, MUE Klein m 101) is missing its title page, but its colophon carries publication information as being from Leipzig, published by Joachim Schumann in 1543. According to the university’s catalog, the collection was edited by Martin Luther. This extra stanza is sometimes erroneously attributed to Valentin Triller, apparently on account of it appearing in his songbook Ein schlesisch Singebuechlein (1555), but by that point, these words had already been printed more than once. By the same rationale, the likely author is Luther.

The song was also included in Geistliche Lieder zu Wittemberg, Anno 1543. In spite of the 1543 date in the title, the colophon (last page) reads “Gedruckt zu Wittemberg / Durch Joseph Klug / Anno MDXLiiii [1544],” so it postdates the Leipzig collection above. This version contains the same four stanzas as in the Leipzig collection. In this edition, Klug set the German and Latin phrases in different typefaces.

This four-stanza version of the carol was also included in Geystliche Lieder (Leipzig: V. Babst, 1545), which was Martin Luther’s last hymnal. Like the 1544 collection above, the publisher helpfully set the Latin and German phrases in different typefaces.

One other early printing worth noting is this song’s appearance in Piae Cantiones (Greifswald: Augustini Ferberi, 1582), edited by Theodoric Petri (Didrik Petri or Pedersen) of Nyland, Finland (ca. 1560–ca. 1630). This collection came into the possession of Thomas Helmore and J.M. Neale in the nineteenth century, from which they copied material, including the tunes for “Good King Wenceslas,” “Of the Father’s love begotten” (DIVINUM MYSTERIUM), and “In dulci jubilo” (see their version below). Petri’s version uses the same four stanzas as Babst 1545, in the same order, except here the language in alternation with Latin is Swedish.

IV. English Translations

1. Wedderburn Brothers

The earliest translation of the song into English was made by the Wedderburn brothers of Dundee, Scotland (James, John, and Robert), probably published in The Gude and Godlie Ballatis (ca. 1540), but this is no longer extant. Shown below is a scan from their 1578 book, Ane co[m]pendious [buik] of godlie psalmes and spirit[uall sangis] (Edinburgh, 1578). This version uses the first three stanzas as are usually found in the manuscript record and in Klug 1533.

2. Robert L. Pearsall

English composer Robert Lucas Pearsall (1795–1856), who was living in Willsbridge, Gloucestershire, prepared an anthem setting of the song, using his own translation, titled “A Very Ancient German Christmas Carol” and beginning “In dulci jubilo, let us our homage show.” Inside the score, in a preface dated 31 Jan. 1837, Pearsall offered some insight into the genesis of the work:

The words are rather remarkable, being written half in Latin and half in upper German dialect. I have translated them to fit the music, and endeavored to preserve, as much as I could, the simplicity of the original. . . . The music in the following pages was written for the Choral Society at Carlsruhe and was performed there in Autumn of 1834.

Pearsall used the same four stanzas as had appeared in Babst 1545 and elsewhere, and his translation preserved the bilingual character of the song.

Fig. 11. “A Very Ancient Christmas Carol” (London: D’Almaine & Co., [1837]).
  

Hymnologically, the most lasting influence of Pearsall’s anthem has been the harmonization of the first stanza. This was lightly revised and reprinted by John Stainer in Christmas Carols New and Old, First Series (London: Novello, 1868). This harmonization is often incorrectly attributed to Stainer, and often misdated.

3. Arthur T. Russell

Some Lutheran hymnals use the translation by Anglican priest Arthur T. Russell (1806–1874), who was vicar of Caxton when he published Psalms and Hymns, Partly Original, Partly Selected, for the Use of the Church of England (Cambridge: John Deighton, 1851). In his version, “Now sing we, now rejoice,” Russell opted to translate all of the text into English, thus eliminating its macaronic character.

4. John Mason Neale

The most popular translation of “In dulci jubilo” has been “Good Christian men, rejoice” (and its variants), made by John Mason Neale (1818–1866); or as Erik Routley put it, “This is not a translation, but a freely written three-verse carol interpreting the general sense of the original.”[8] Neale had been given a copy of Piae Cantiones in 1853, and from this collection, he and his friend Thomas Helmore (1811–1890) translated and adapted a number of texts and tunes. Neale’s adaptation was first published in Carols for Christmas-tide (1853) with a musical setting by Helmore. A closed-score version was published in 1854. Helmore had misinterpreted the music in Piae Cantiones, leading to the insertion of two whole beats after the third phrase. As a result, Neale filled the extra time with exclamations such as “News! News!” Some hymnals and songbooks repeat this error.

Neale’s translation was further popularized through its inclusion in John Stainer’s Christmas Carols New and Old, First Series (London: Novello, 1868), using Robert Pearsall’s harmonization, but incorporating the erroneous “News! News!”

In modern hymnals, the first line of Neale’s text is commonly altered for reasons of inclusive language, the most sensible option being “Good Christian friends, rejoice,” which was first offered in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978).

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
20 June 2024

Footnotes:

1. Thomas Francis Knox, The Life of Blessed Henry Suso by Himself (1865), pp. 27–29: Archive.org

2. Robin A. Leaver, “Good Christian friends, rejoice,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3A (1994), p. 216.

3. Carl P. Daw Jr., “Good Christian friends, rejoice,” Glory to God: A Companion (2016), p. 137.

4. Transcribed in Gisela Kornrumpf (2000), p. 168.

5. Transcribed in Wackernagel (1865), vol. 2, no. 640.

6. Alan Luff, “Good Christian friends, rejoice,” Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3A (1994), p. 212.

7. Transcribed in Wackernagel (1865), vol. 2, no. 641.

8. Erik Routley, The English Carol (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1958), p. 196.

Related Resources:

Manuscripts

Wissenschaftliche Stadtbibliothek Mainz, Hs I 164 (1370): https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52420#0407

Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, MS 1305 (ca. 1420): https://digital.ub.uni-leipzig.de/object/viewid/0000012776

Augsburg, Universitätsbibliothek, Medinger Gebetbuch, UBA 220/Cod. 14: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:384-uba002012-5

Staatsbibliothek Berlin, Ms. germ. oct. 190: http://resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB0000E2B500000000

KBR MS IV 421: https://opac.kbr.be/LIBRARY/doc/SYRACUSE/10709894

“In dulci jubilo,” Handschriftencensus: https://handschriftencensus.de/werke/4057

Research

Melchior Diepenbrock, Heinrich Suso’s genannt Amandus Leben und Schriften (Regensburg: F. Pustet, 1829): HathiTrust

Karl Bihlmeyer, Heinrich Seuse: Deutsche Schriften (Stuttgart: W. Kholhammer, 1907): HathiTrust

Thomas Francis Knox, The Life of Blessed Henry Suso by Himself (London: Burns, Lambert, and Oates, 1867): HathiTrust

Philipp Wackernagel, Das deutsche Kirchenlied von der ältesten Zeit bis zu Anfang des 17 Jahrhunderts, vol. 2 (Leipzig: 1865), pp. 483–486: HathiTrust

Johannes Zahn, Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder, vol. 3 (Gütersloh: C. Bertelsmann, 1890), no. 4947: Archive.org

Clytus Gottwald, “‘In dulci iubilo’: Morphogenese eines Weinachtsliedes,” Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie, vol. 9 (1964), pp. 133–143.

Konrad Ameln, “Ein vorreformatisches Gebet- und Andacht-Buch als hymnologische Quelle,” Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie, vol. 10 (1965), pp. 131–138.

Walther Lipphardt, “Deutsche Kirchenlieder in einem niedersächsischen Zisterzienserinnenkloster des Mittelalters,” Kerygma und Melos: Christhard Mahrenholz 70 Jahre (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1970), pp. 310–318.

Wolfgang Jungandreas, “Das Ms. 1305 der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig: eine Handschriften aus Schlesien,” Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie, vol. 17 (1972), pp. 205–212.

Konrad Ameln, “Die cantio ‘In dulci jubilo,’” Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie, vol. 29 (1985), pp. 23–78.

Gerard Achten, “De gebedenboeken van de cistercienzerinnenkloosters Medingen en Wienhausen,” Miscellanea Neerlandica: opstellen voor Dr. Jan Deschamps ter gelegenheit van zijn zwetigste verjaardag, ed. Elly Cockx-Indestege & Frans Hendrickx (Leuven: Peeters, 1987), 3:173–188.

Frank Tobin, Henry Suso: The Exemplar (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1989).

Hugh Keyte & Andrew Parrott, “In dulci jubilo,” New Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: University Press, 1992), pp. 192–198.

Alan Luff & Robin A. Leaver, “Good Christian friends, rejoice,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, ed. Raymond Glover, vol. 3A (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 211–220.

Gisela Kornrumpf, “In dulci iubilo: neue Aspekte der Überlieferungsgeschichte beider Fassungen des Weihnachtsliedes,” Neue Forschungsparadigmen zur mittelhochdeutschen Lyrik: Festschrift für Helmut Tervooren, ed. Johannes Spicker (Stuttgart: S. Hirzel, 2000), pp. 159–190.

Anne-Dore Harzer, In dulci iubilo: Fassungen und Rezeptionsgeschichte des Liedes vom 14. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart (Tübingen: Francke, 2006).

Carl P. Daw Jr., “Good Christian friends, rejoice,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), pp. 136–137.

Joseph Herl & Stephen M. Rosebrock, “Now sing we, now rejoice,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), pp. 154–157.

“In dulci jubilo,” Hymns and Carols of Christmas:
https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/in_dulci_jubilo.htm

“Now sing we, now rejoice,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/now_sing_we_now_rejoice