Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her

translated as:
I come from heaven to tell
From highest heaven I come to tell
From heaven above to earth I come 

including:
Nun komm herzu, du junge Schar
Es kam ein Engel hell und klar
Ich komm aus fremden Landen her

with
BALULALOW
VOM HIMMEL HOCH

I. Luther’s Composition

Martin Luther’s extensive Christmas hymn was first published in Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert (Wittenberg: J. Klug, 1535 | Fig. 1). The text here is clearly credited to Luther, but the tune was not his, borrowed from an anonymous wreath song (more on this below). Some scholars believe he had written these words the previous Christmas, in 1534, for his family. In support of this view, Ulrich Leupold wrote:

When he wrote it in 1534 or 1535, his children were just old enough to sing it. Indeed, some scholars maintain that the hymn is a miniature Christmas pageant for the family, with the angel singing stanzas 1–5, individual children stanzas 7–14, and stanzas 6 and 15 sung by the whole group.[1]

In contrast, William H. Otte (via Markus Jenny) argued, “More likely is the possibility that Luther may have envisioned some sort of dramatic, staged presentation.”[2] In line with this view, J.R. Watson suggested, “It is very likely that it was written for one child to be the angel, and for the others to respond, sometimes in individual stanzas and sometimes together.”[3] It is worth noting, these two possibilities are not mutually exclusive and could both be true at some level.

In the earliest printing, the song was headed “Ein kinder lied auff die Weinacht Christi” (“A children’s song on the birth of Christ”). The text runs to 15 stanzas. At its core, it is a paraphrase and elaboration on the appearance of the angels to the shepherds in Luke 2:10–16 (sts. 1–7), followed by our glad response (sts. 8–15). Otte has remarked, “Luther goes beyond simply retelling the story to emphasize the great joy that comes from knowing that Jesus came to ‘set you free’ from ‘all your sins,’” and he noted, “There is perhaps a hint of Philippians 2:6–9 in stanzas 9 through 12, as the children marvel that one who deserved riches and luxury would choose such a lowly birth.”[4] This duality was also expressed by Frauke Schmitz-Gropengiesser:

Theological aspects of the text are evident in the contrast between the majesty of Christ and the humility of Jesus: On the one hand, “the Lord Christ, our God” is mentioned, who wants to be the Savior of all people and live with them in the kingdom of heaven (stanzas 3 and 4); on the other hand, the birth in the most humble of circumstances is described (stanzas 9–11).[5]

Fig. 1. Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert (Wittenberg: J. Klug, 1535).
   

Regarding Luther’s use of a preexisting, secular tune, Robin Leaver remarked, “while Luther did adapt and rewrite early vernacular religious folk songs, he produced only one contrafactum,” being this one.[6] Similarly, Joseph Herl explained, “Most often, when Luther wrote a hymn using a preexisting melody, the melody was a Gregorian chant. But over 20 percent of his hymns are based on, or written in the form of, popular religious song (what would be akin to religious Christmas carols today). . . . Nine hymns are in the form of Leise, so called because of its characteristic last line, Kyrie eleison, or Kyrieleis.”[7]

Luther ultimately decided to replace the secular tune with his own tune in Valten Schumann’s Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert und gemehrt zu Wittenberg (Leipzig: V. Schumann, 1539 | Fig. 2). This new tune can be confidently assigned to Luther because it is consistent with his compositional style: “Though a bit gentler, it is like the more famous tune by Luther, EIN FESTE BURG, in that it employs a descending melody within an octave, is major, emphasizes the dominant, and begins with a strong rhythm.”[8] There were no textual changes, aside from variances in spelling and capitalization.

Fig. 2. Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert und gemehrt zu Wittenberg (Leipzig: V. Schumann, 1539).

When this hymn was printed in the 1543 edition of Klug’s collection, it carried a longer heading, “Ein Kinderlied auff die Weihenachten vom Kindlein Jhesu, Aus dem ii. Cap. des Evangelii S. Lucas gezogen” (“A children’s song for the nativity of the child Jesus, drawn from the 2nd chapter of the evangelist St. Luke”).

The old tune and the new tune were printed together as a double cantus firmus in an arrangement by Georgius Förster in Georg Rhau’s Newe deudsche geistliche Gesenge (Wittenberg, 1544), shown here in a transcription from Johannes Wolf, Denkmähler deutsche Tonkunst, vol. 34 (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1908). The old melody is in the top voice (discantus), and the new melody is in the third voice (tenor), both fitted for Luther’s words.

II. Folk Origins and Influences

Luther’s hymn was based preexisting material. In his 1535 version, he borrowed the tune note-for-note from a secular folk song, and his text was a parody or imitation of that song. These two elements have somewhat different histories, the tune being clearly antecedent to Luther’s carol, whereas the connection to the text has to be inferred backwards from later printings. But first, an introduction to the genre is warranted. The antecedent song is regarded as a wreath song (or garland song). Frauke Schmitz-Gropengiesser explained:

This was a so-called wreath song, which was particularly popular with young people. Young men competed in reciting riddle songs at the evening dance, and the winner received a wreath from his chosen one.[9]

Similarly, from William Otte:

A young man would sing the refrain, and then would pose a riddle to one of the girls sitting in a circle. If she could not solve the riddle, she would have to give him her garland (or wreath).[10]

Regarding the tune, only one source is currently known to exist prior to Luther’s publication of it in 1535. This was in the so-called Apel Codex, or Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig Ms 1494, which dates ca. 1490–1504. On folio 243v is a four-part motet with no title and no text. The melody is given in the first four phrases of the top voice, then again in the last four phrases of the tenor voice. The first four phrases of the top voice match closely with Luther’s version. A transcription of the full motet is given in Hans-Otto Korth (2017).

Around the time Luther produced his Christmas hymn, Hermann Vulpius published a song beginning “Nun komm herzu, du junge Schar” (“Now come here, you young people”) in Vier geystliche Reyenlieder (Nürnberg: Kunigunde Hergotin, n.d.) (“Four spiritual dance songs”). In the 19th century, Franz Böhme said of this song, “Even before Luther’s and Triller’s use of the secular wreath melody, we find it suitable for a sacred text by Hermann Vulpius in 1530.”[11] In Vulpius’ collection, the song is headed “Ein Reien Lied / Im Ton ‘Wie man um [einen] Kranz singt’” (“A dance song / To the tune As one sings around a wreath”). Like Luther, his text is built in stanzas of four lines, long meter.

Fig. 5. Vier geystliche Reyenlieder (Nürnberg: Valentin Newber, [1560]). Staatsbibliothek Berlin.
   

An oft-cited variant of the folk tune was printed in Geistliche Ringeltentze (Magdeburg, 1550) (“Spiritual ring dances”). This example uses Luther’s text, but with a different version of the old tune. In this instance, the song had a threefold heading: “Ein ander Ringeltantz” (“Another ring dance”), then the recommended tune, “als man umb den Krantz singet” (“as one sings around the wreath”), and a short form of Luther’s title, “vom Kindlein Jhesu Weihenachten” (“from the Nativity of Infant Jesus”). All 15 stanzas of Luther’s text were given, followed by 12 stanzas from Vulpius, with the tune for Vulpius named as Luther’s hymn.

Fig. 6. Geistliche Ringeltentze (Magdeburg, 1550).

In 1544, the same year Georg Rhau published a polyphonic setting of Luther’s tune intertwined with the folk tune (Fig. 3), the folk tune appeared in a polyphonic setting by Ludwig Senfl (ca. 1486–1543), published in Hundert vnd fünfftzehen guter newer Liedlein (Nürnberg: Hans Ott, 1544 | Fig. 7). The melody of the folk tune appears in the first four phrases of the discant part, set to a text beginning “Mit lust trit ich an diesen tanz / ich hoff mir werd ein schöner kranz” (“I take part in this dance with pleasure / I hope I will get a beautiful wreath”). Unfortunately, the provenance of this text is unclear. It could be an excerpt from an unidentified version of the traditional wreath song, or it could have been written especially for this six-part setting in order to avoid the long text of the song as it appears below in Fig. 9. This is the earliest example of the folk tune paired with a wreath-song text.

Fig. 7. Hundert vnd fünfftzehen guter newer Liedlein (Nürnberg: Hans Ott, 1544). Staatsbibliothek Berlin.
   

In 1555, Protestant pastor Valentin Triller (1493–1573) rewrote Luther’s text as “Es kam ein Engel hell und klar” (“An angel came bright and clear”) and published his version in Ein schlesisch singebüchlein (Breslau: Crispin Scharffenberg, 1555 | 2nd ed. shown in Fig. 8). Triller’s text extends to 18 stanzas and uses the folk tune rather than Luther’s tune. Notice especially the heading, “Auff die noten / Aus frembden landen komm ich her / mit dreyen stimmen” (“On the notes / I come here from foreign lands / with three voices”). Triller’s work, therefore, connects the wreath tune with the text “Aus fremden Landen komm ich her” (more on this below). Triller’s text has been reprinted in other collections, some of which are listed in Zahn (1889), No. 344a.

Fig. 8. Ein Christlich Singebuch fur Layen vnd Gelerten Kinder vnd alten (Breslau: Crispin Scharffenberg, 1559). Staatsbibliothek Berlin.
   

The earliest known appearance of the text named by Triller came shortly after Triller’s mention of it. “Ich komm aus fremden Landen her” can be found in Drey hüpsche nüwe Geystliche Lieder (Bern: Samuel Apiario, 1558) (“Three pretty new spiritual songs”). Although the text appeared without a heading, the title page of this small collection is key for referring to this first song as “wie man umb ein Kräntzlin singt.” Curiously, unlike the songs by Luther, Vulpius, and Triller, this printing of the text is not grouped into sets of four lines. Some of the groupings, running to six or ten lines, don’t coordinate with a four-phrase tune. Also, the designation of this song as “nüwe” (“new”) would seem to be at odds with the song’s purported age, but this could be owing to the song’s recent introduction or popularity in the area of Bern, or the newness of the other two songs, or it is simply new to this publisher. Additionally, this text is not known to have been published with music during this time period.

Fig. 9. Drey hüpsche nüwe Geystliche Lieder (Bern: Samuel Apiario, 1558).
   

The other factor to consider in the assumed chain of influence from this song to Luther (rather than this song being inspired by Luther’s text), is the thematic connection in the text. The first four lines of the wreath song read “I come here from foreign lands / and bring much news to you. / I bring so much of the news to you / more than I will tell you here.” As Otte has explained:

In the folk song, a traveling ballad singer comes into a marketplace bearing news from afar, which he offers to share with the people in the square. Luther picks up on this picture, using the image of an angel coming from the “foreign land” of heaven into the circle of the shepherds keeping watch, offering to share the good news with them of what has just happened in Bethlehem.[12]

For another carol from this time period with connections to dance traditions, see “In dulci jubilo.”

III. Wedderburn Translation

The earliest translation of Luther’s hymn into English was made by John Wedderburn (ca. 1505–1555), possibly published in The Gude and Godlie Ballatis (ca. 1540), but this is no longer extant. The second edition, 1567, is held by the National Library of Scotland. Shown below is a scan from a later edition, Ane co[m]pendious [buik] of godlie psalmes and spirit[uall sangis] (Edinburgh, 1578). The text begins “I come from hevin to tell” and it was headed “Ane sang of the birth of Christ to be sung with the tune of Balulalow.” John had been a priest of St Matthew’s Chapel, Dundee, but owing to his support of the reformation, fled to Wittenberg in 1539, where he would have come into contact with Luther and learned this Christmas hymn.

The tune BALULALOW named here in the header and in the penultimate stanza is a Scottish lullaby. The editors of Church Hymnary, 4th ed. (2005) traced the tune to John Gamble’s Commonplace-Book, ca. 1660, which is a manuscript in the New York Public Library, MS Drexel 4257. A description inside the codex describes Gamble as “apprentice to Ambrose Bayland, a noted musician, was afterwards musician at one of the play-houses; from thence removed to be a cornet in the king’s chapel. After that he became one of Charles the Second’s band of violins.” The song is number 46 in the collection, given in two parts, melody and bass. For a transcription and completion of the music, see Church Hymnary, 4th ed. (2005), no. 297.

This song is sometimes known as Lady Anne Bothwell’s Lament. Another version is in the British Library, Add. MS 10337, p. 6 from the end, dated 1658, transcribed with some other notable variants and sources in Hales & Furnivall (1868). See also Thomas Percy (1765).

Wedderburn’s translation of Luther was extensively rewritten as “From highest heaven I come to tell” by Henry Ramsden Bramley (1833–1917) for Christmas Carols New and Old, 3rd Series (London: Novello, Ewer & Co., 1878), where it was set to a tune by James Higgs.

III. Translation by Catherine Winkworth

The most common translation in circulation is the one by Catherine Winkworth (1827–1878) for Lyra Germanica (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855), “From heaven above to earth I come.” This is a full translation. Her text is often altered for reasons of fidelity to the German or reduction of archaisms. See especially the revision in the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978).

by CHRIS FENNER
with EBERHARD NEHLSEN
and JOSEPH HERL
for Hymnology Archive
10 July 2024

Footnotes:

1. Ulrich S. Leupold, ed., “From Heaven on High I Come to You,” Liturgy and Hymns, Luther’s Works, vol. 53 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965), p. 289.

2. William H. Otte, “From heaven above to earth I come,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (2019), p. 74, citing Markus Jenny, Luthers geistliche Lieder und Kirchengesänge (Köln: Böhlau Verlag, 1985), p. 111; see also Joseph Herl, Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism (Oxford: University Press, 2004), p. 21, “[H]e wrote it for the annual children’s Christmas pageant, not for use in a church service”; Frauke Schmitz-Gropengiesser, in “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her” (2011), agrees: “Dass Luther diesen Text Weihnachten 1534 zur Bescherung seiner damals noch kleinen Kinder” (“It is probably a legend that Luther wrote this text at Christmas 1534 to give presents to his children, who were still small at the time.” Lauxmann (1876), p. 21, supports the family view; translated in Julian (1892), p. 1227.

3. J.R. Watson, “Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology: CDH

4. Otte, Lutheran Service Book Companion, p. 358.

5. Frauke Schmitz-Gropengiesser, “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her” (2011): “Theologische Aspekte des Textes zeigen sich im dargestellten Gegensatz zwischen der Hoheit Christi und der Niedrigkeit Jesu: Auf der einen Seite wird ‘der Herr Christ, unser Gott’ genannt, welcher Heiland für alle Menschen sein und mit ihnen im Himmelreich leben möchte (Str. 3 und 4), auf der anderen Seite ist die Geburt in ärmlichsten Umständen (Str. 9–11) beschrieben.”

6. Robin A. Leaver, Luther’s Liturgical Music (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), p. 17.

7. Joseph Herl, Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism (2004), pp. 21–22.

8. Paul Westermeyer, “From Heaven Above,” Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2010), pp. 42–43.

9. Frauke Schmitz-Gropengiesser, “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her” (2011).

10. William H. Otte, “From heaven above to earth I come,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (2019), p. 74.

11. “Schon vor Luthers und Trillers Benutzung der weltliche Kranzmelodie sinden wir dieselbe schon 1530 einem geistliche Texte von Hermann Vulpius geeignet”; OCLC dates the collection to 1535; the catalog of Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin dates it ca. 1550. The text by Vulpius was included in the Magdeburg 1550 collection and therefore predates it, but by how much is unclear.

12. William H. Otte, “From heaven above to earth I come,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (2019), p. 75.

Related Resources:

Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, Ms 1494: https://digital.ub.uni-leipzig.de/object/viewid/0000028575

New York Public Library, MS Drexel 4257: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/41f2d020-9257-0134-8a4f-00505686a51c

Thomas Percy, “Lady Bothwell’s Lament,” Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol. 2 (London: J. Dodsley, 1765), pp. 194–196.

John W. Hales & Frederick J. Furnivall, “Balowe,” Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript: Ballads and Romances, vol. 3 (London: N. Trübner & Co., 1868), pp. 515–523: Archive.org

Richard Lauxmann, Geschichte des Kirchenlieds und Kirchengesangs der christlichen, vol. 8 (Stuttgart: Belser, 1876), pp. 21–24: HathiTrust

Franz M. Böhme, Altdeutsches liederbuch (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1877): HathiTrust

Ludwig Erk & Franz M. Böhme, Deutscher Liederhort, vol. 3 (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1894), no. 1062: HathiTrust

Johannes Zahn, Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder, vol. 1 (Gütersloh: C. Bertelsmann, 1889), no. 344–346: Archive.org

James Mearns, “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her,” A Dictionary of Hymnology, ed. John Julian (London: J. Murray, 1892), p. 1227: HathiTrust

W.G. Polack, “From heaven above to earth I come,” Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal (St. Louis: Concorida, 1942), pp. 69–70.

Konrad Ameln, The Roots of German Hymnody in the Reformation Era (St. Louis: Concordia, 1964), pp. 17–18.

Marilyn Kay Stulken, “From Heaven Above,” Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981), pp. 153–154.

Fred L. Precht, “From heaven above to earth I come,” Lutheran Worship Hymnal Companion (St. Louis: Concordia, 1992), pp. 45–47.

Hugh Keyte & Andrew Parrott, “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her,” New Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: University Press, 1992), pp. 199–203.

C.T. Aufdemberge, “From heaven above to earth I come,” Christian Worship: Handbook (Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Publishing House, 1997), pp. 55–57.

Paul Westermeyer, “From Heaven Above,” Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 2010), pp. 42–43.

Frauke Schmitz-Gropengiesser, “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her,” Populäre und Traditionelle Lieder (2011):
https://www.liederlexikon.de/lieder/vom_himmel_hoch_da_komm_ich_her

Hans-Otto Korth, “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her,” Lass uns leuchten des Lebens Wort die Lieder Martin Luthers (Halle: Franckeschen Stiftungen, 2017), pp. 236–246.

William H. Otte & Joseph Herl, “From heaven above to earth I come,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), p. 74–78.

“From heaven above to earth I come,” Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/text/from_heaven_above_to_earth_i_come_to_bea