HOTC #6: LSB 359, Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming

Perhaps the most successful German Christmas hymn brought over into English, Lo, How a Rose is one of those hymns with what I like to call a “candlelight” quality - the tune, the text, and the quality of the combination just “are” Christmas.

The Author

The text is by that greatest of poets, Anonymous. It does spring from a prominent Medieval tradition of Marian poetry in which the Virgin is identified with a rose, flowering from the “root of Jesse,” a reference to Isaiah 11:1.

The Text

The earliest source for this hymn text is from a 16th Century prayerbook, in which the poetry extends to 23 (!) stanzas, all the way from the prophecies of Isaiah to the arrival of the Wise Men. Michael Praetorius (more on him later) set two of the poetic stanzas to the tune we associate with this hymn today in his Musae Sioniae in 1609, though the tune has earlier antecedents in the Speyer Hymnal of 1599. The text Praetorius utilized was also slightly altered from the original (either previously or by Praetorius himself) in order to change the focus of the text from Mary to Christ. It is this version of the text that, translated into English by Theodore Baker roughly 100 years ago, that appears in Lutheran Service Book. These two verses dwell largely on the prophecies of Isaiah.

The third verse is another matter entirely, and is the original work of Fridrich Layriz, who lived 1808-1859, and was a Lutheran pastor. Thie verse makes explicit the identification of the rose in the poetry with Christ (as opposed to the Medieval identification of Mary with the rose), before confessing the two natures of Christ - “True man, yet very God,” - and the work that the Christ child has come to do - “From sin and death He saves us.”

The final verse was originally verse 22 in the original poem, again edited to make Christ the object of the poetry, rather than Mary. In this verse the singer implores the Savior to forgive our weakness (of which He is aware through having experienced it in the Incarnation), and to lead them “To the bright courts of heaven.” The juxtaposition of the incarnate Christ in his manger with the image of Christ in glory and the salvation of Creation is here as powerful as it is anywhere else in the canon of Advent and Christmas hymnary.

From beginning to end, this hymn can be seen as a series of poetic scenes, two or three in each verse, where the text dwells alternatively on the prophecies of the Incarnation, the reality of that Incarnation, and the salvific relief of humanity purchased in that reality.

The Tune

As noted earlier, the tune as we have it is credited to Michael Praetorius (though Praetorius either borrowed it from or composed it for the Speyer Hymnal, printed in 1599), who in this case is also responsible for the harmonization given here.

Michael Praetorius, from a woodcut dated 1606

Praetorius was the son of a Lutheran pastor, and by the age of 16 had become the organist at the Marienkirche in Wolfenbuttel, a post he would hold for most of the rest of his life. He was familiar with the popular Italian styles of his time, especially the work of the Venetian School; composers such as the Gabrielis (an uncle/nephew duo), Zarlino, Merulo, and Diruta. He combined that with a German and Lutheran perspective - particularly the use of the chorale - to create something new in German music. Indeed, his Musae Sionae, published in nine parts between 1605 and 1610, and a collection of liturgical music he published in 1611, can be said to have revolutionized church music north of the Alps (as well as making his name as a composer) He was one of the most renowned musicians of his time, and was employed by John George I, Elector of Saxony, to entertain Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1617. He died in 1621, and is buried beneath the organ in the Marienkirche.

The tune ES IST EIN ROS is easily Praetorius’s most well-known composition. That it comes to us with the full original harmonization is a testament to the durability of Praetorius’s work. The variety afforded by the chord changes in the first two measures of each of the first two phrases are such that the repeated Cs (there are five of them in the first six notes of the melody) aren’t allowed to become stale. Good articulation is also required on the part of the organist in order to keep the opening phrases from plodding. Likewise, the syncopations at the ends of the first, second, and final phrases can become confusing for a congregation if the short-long-long-short-long rhythm isn’t backed up by good articulation.

The cadence at the end of the third phrase is notable as one of the few genuinely recognizable harmonic moments in most hymnals. The ascending parallel thirds impart no real harmonic motion (the harmony remains firmly in C major, with the D-F third forming a parallel passing tone), but have become a recognizable part of Christmas Eve candlelight services no less.

The tune appears sporadically in organ compositions and more commonly in choral works, becoming more popular in the 19th Century. Notable compositions using the tune include a canon in four parts by Praetorius’s contemporary Melchior Vulpius, as well as a well-known chorale prelude by Johannes Brahms in which the chorale tune is heavily obscured. The tune also forms the basis of Huge Distler’s oratorio Die Weihnachtsgeschichte.