Auferstehn, ja aufer stehn wirst du . F. G. Klopstock. [ Burial of the Dead .] This beautiful little poem, hardly to be called a hymn, on the Resurrection of the Body, was written after the death, on Nov. 28, 1758, of his first wife, Meta Moller, and first published in his Geistliche Lieder, vol. i., Copenhagen, 1758, p. 80, in 5 stanzas of 5 lines. It was sung by the assembled thousands when, on March 22, 1803, he was laid to rest at Meta's side in the churchyard of Ottensen, near Altona. Commonly used also at Easter. Included as No. 1512 in the Berlin Geistliche Lieder, ed. 1863. The translation in common use is:—
Thou my dust awaking from brief rest, by A. T. Russell, as No. 257 in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851, in 5 stanzas. Rather based on the German than an exact translation. Included, beginning "Thou wilt raise our bodies from brief rest," as No. 744 in Kennedy, 1863.
Translations not in common use:—
(1) “Yes! Soon away shall death’s deep slumbers roll,” by Sir J. Bowring in his Hymns, 1825, No. 99. (2) “Yes! Thou wilt rise, wilt rise as Jesus rose,” in W. Nind’s Odes of Klopstock, 1848, p. 309. (3) "Arise, yes, yes, arise, O thou my dust," in Dr. A. Baskerville's Poetry of Germany, 1854 (ed. 1876, p. 25), and thence in the Gilman-Schaff Library of Religious Poetry, ed. 1883, p. 774. (4) "Thou Shalt rise! my dust thou shalt arise," by Miss Borthwick in Hymns from the Land of Luther, 1855 (1862, p. 165,1884, p. 128), and altered in Schaff 's Christ in Song, 1869, p. 652 (ed. 1879, p. 520). (5) "Rise thou shalt, yes, rise," by J. S. Stallybrass, in the Tonic Sol-fa Reporter, July, 1857. (6) "Rise again! yes, thou shalt rise again, my dust," by Miss Fry, 1859, p. 112. (7) "Arise again, arise again," in C. S. Bere's Garland of Songs, 1861 (later eds. p. 29). (8) "Rise again! yes, rise again wilt thou," by Miss Winkworth, 1869, p. 333. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Catherine Winkworth (b. Holborn, London, England, 1827; d. Monnetier, Savoy, France, 1878) is well known for her English translations of German hymns; her translations were polished and yet remained close to the original. Educated initially by her mother, she lived with relatives in Dresden, Germany, in 1845, where she acquired her knowledge of German and interest in German hymnody. After residing near Manchester until 1862, she moved to Clifton, near Bristol. A pioneer in promoting women's rights, Winkworth put much of her energy into the encouragement of higher education for women. She translated a large number of German hymn texts from hymnals owned by a friend, Baron Bunsen. Though often altered, these translations continue to be used i… Go to person page >
Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb, the eldest of the 17 children of Gottlob Heinrich Klopstock (then advocate and commissionsrath at Quedlinburg, and after 1735 amtmann at Friedeburg, on the Saale, near Halle), was born at Quedlinburg, July 2, 1724. From 1739 to 1745 he attended the famous school at Schulpforte, near Naumburg (where he conceived the first idea of his Messias); then he entered the University of Jena, in the autumn of 1745, as a student of theology, and the University of Leipzig at Easter, 1746. At Leipzig he made acquaintance with J. A. Cramer (q.v.); and became one of the contributors to the Bremer Beiträge, in which the first three books of his Messias appeared. In 1748 he became tutor in the house of a merchant named Weiss a… Go to person page >
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