In Passion-Book, Friedrich Lochner includes a few hymn stanzas at the beginning and ending of each of sixty-six devotions on the different stages of the Passion History. Musical settings appended by Lochner for less common tunes (in his context) are also included in the book, engraved by Lutheran musician David Schotte.
We have recently been made aware of Schotte’s YouTube channel, The Lutheran Kantor Project, which “aims to provide recordings of the great Lutheran chorales which are lesser known among English-speaking Lutherans. These recordings are designed to increase familiarity with tune and text.”
You can listen to David Schotte play the setting on organ and then sing acapella one of the hymns found in Passion-Book: “Christus, der us selig macht,” or “Christ, Who Saves Us by His Cross.” In the book, the melody and Stanza 8 of the hymn are included in Devotions 5 and 59 while the melody is suggested for the hymn stanza in Devotion 13.
Here is a PDF of the hymn with additional information below from The Lutheran Kantor Project:
Text: Michael Weiße, 1531; tr. composite, sts. 1–7, alt.; st. 8 Moravian Hymn-Book, 1819, st. 8, alt.
Tune: Michael Weiße, 1531.
Based on Patris sapientia, an ancient Latin office hymn traditionally sung on Good Friday, this hymn, originating in Weiße’s Bohemia, became popular in Lutheran Germany. It is most famous for its use by Bach in the St. John Passion, though Bach was only following the lead of Heinrich Schütz in his own Johannespassion from the century before.
This hymn is also notable for its references to the events of Christ’s passion at specific hours of the day, following Scripture’s own record of them. Here, they are translated as the names of the canonical prayer offices, as shown below:
Terce = third hour = 9:00 a.m.
Sext = sixth hour = 12:00 p.m.
Nones = ninth hour = 3:00 p.m.
Vespers = evening = 6:00 p.m.
Compline = bedtime = 9:00 p.m.
