Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen . J. Heermann. [Passiontide .] First published in his Devoti Musica Cordis, Breslau, 1630, p. 63, in 15 stanzas of4 lines, entitled "The Cause of the bitter sufferings of Jesus Christ, and consolation from His love and grace. From Augustine.”
"The Latin meditation on which the hymn is based is No. vii. of the Meditationes of St. Augustine. This book, however, is not an original work of that Father, but a mediaeval compilation, mainly from St. Anselm of Canterbury, but in part from St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great, and others. Meditation vii. is by St. Anselm.
It is a beautiful and thoughtful hymn, and has been extensively used in Germany. It is given in Müzell, 1858, No. 30, in the Unverfälscher Liedersegen, 1851, No. 102, &c. The fine melody (given in the Chorale Book for England) is by J. Crüger, appeared in his Newes vollkömmliches Gesang-Buch, Berlin,1640, and is employed by J. S. Bach in his St. Matthew and St. John Passion Music. Translated as:—
1. What laws, my blessed Saviour, hast Thou broken , a good and full translation by Miss Cox in her Sacred Hymns from the German, 1841, p. 25 (edition 1864, p. 51, slightly altered). In 1874 her translations of stanzas i.-iv., vii., altered, and beginning, "What law, most blessed Jesus," were included in Darling's Hymns for Church of England.
2. What law, beloved Jesu, hast Thou broken, a good translation of stanzas i., iii., iv., ix., by A. T. Russell as No. 91 in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851.
3. Alas, dear Lord, what law then hast Thou broken, a very good translation, omitting stanza v., by Miss Winkworth as No. 52 in her Chorale Book for England, 1863.
Other translations are:—
(1) "What then, dear Jesus, hadst Thou done or said," No. 166 in the Moravian H. Book , 1742. (2) "Dear Jesu! wherein wert Thou to be blamed," No. 223 in pt. i. of the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754. In the edition of 1849, No. 103, it begins "Dear Jesus! wherein art;" and in the 1886 edition, No. 92, with stanza iv., "O wondrous grace, all earthly love exceeding." (3) "Alas, dear Lord, what evil hast Thou done," by Miss Winkworth, 1856, p. 77. (4) "O precious Jesus, what hast Thou been doing," by Miss Burlingham in the British Herald, July, 1865, p. 101, repeated in Reid's Praise Book, 1872. (5) " What didst Thou, Jesus, dearest One," by Dr. J. Guthrie, 1869, p. 78. (6) "0 dearest Saviour! what law hadst Thou broken," by N. L. Frothingham, 1870, p. 208. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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