Hymn of the Day: Good Christian Friends, Rejoice ELW 288

This is the oldest German macaronic ("mixed language," usually vernacular and Latin) hymn we know about. In this case the vernacular is a German dialect from the area of Mainz and Worms, mixed with Latin. The earliest printed source for both the text and the tune comes from around 1400 in a manuscript at Leipzig University, but it is mentioned by Heinrich Seuse (known as "Suso" [c. 1295-1366]) in his autobiography from 1328. The English version in Evangelical Lutheran Worship is by John Mason Neale, from his Carols for Christmastide (London, 1853), slightly modified to make it more inclusive, as in the substitution of "friends" for "men." Thomas Helmore made a mistake transcribing the tune, and Neale had to add "News! News!" ("Joy! Joy!" and "Peace! Peace!" for the second and third stanzas) in the middle. That is corrected here, though some versions still retain the quaint addition. This hymn can be mistaken for the Easter hymn which begins with the same four words. The two form a compelling pair for Christmas and Easter.

IN DULCI JUBILO

The tune tied to this text may bear some relation to dance. That it has been used with dancing is clear, but whether it began that way is not. This is a catchy melody that bounces along in triplicate rhythms and repetitions, easily sung and danced. The fundamentally stepwise motion is at first broken only by a rising third and a downward fifth, which prepare the delightful swing of the upward fifth in the second last phrase. The melody outlines the tonic chord, if one can use that terminology in this early music, with a hint at the relative minor as the phrase with the upward leap begins.

The setting here comes from an arrangement Robert L. Pearsall (1795-1856) made in 1834 and 1836. After a stroke in 1825, Pearsall gave up law and devoted himself to history, genealogy, and other pursuits, mostly music.

An Anglican with Roman Catholic proclivities and an interest in German music and the Caecilian movement, he wrote service and hymn settings, an oratorio, a Requiem, a Te Deum, anthems, part-songs, madrigals, and instrumental pieces.