Wenn mein Stündlein fürhanden ist. N. Herman. [For the Dying.] This beautiful hymn, probably the finest of its author, appeared in his Historien von der Sindfludt, &c, Wittenberg, 1562, in 4 stanzas of 7 lines, entitled, "A spiritual song, in which supplication is made for a happy final hour, on the saying of Augustine:—
'Turbabor, sed non perturbabor,
Quia vulnerum Christi recordabor.' "
Thence in Wackernagel, iii. p. 1211, and in Ledderhose's ed. of Herman, p. 104. Wackernagel also gives the hymn as lengthened in the Bonn Gesang-Buch, 1575, to 11 stanza, being the above 4, the 5 stanzas of Herman's hymn, "Da nun Elias seinen Lauff," and 2 stanzas not by Herman, as v. and x. This stanza v. (which Mützell, No. 247, quotes from Drei schöne gehtliche Lieder, Cöln, 1574), as altered in the Leipzig Gesang-Buch, 1582, is generally attached to Herman's original 4 stanzas, as in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen , 1851, No. 843, in 5 stanzas. Translated as:—
1. When Thou shalt close my fleeting day. A good translation of stanzas i.—iii-, by A. T. Russell, as No. 247 in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851. In Kennedy, 1863, it begins, "When death shall close our fleeting day," and this form is in Dr. Thomas's Augustine Hymn Book, 1866, and the Ibrox Hymnal, 1871.
2. Mine hour appointed is at hand. A full and very good translation by R. Massie, contributed as No. 482 to the 1857 edition of Mercer's Church Psalm & Hymn Book (Ox. ed., 1864, No. 385), and thence in his Lyra Domestica, 1864, p. 134. Repeated in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1875, and the Moravian Hymn Book, 1886.
3. When my last hour is close at hand, My last sad, &c. A full and very good translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring, made at request of the Queen for use at the funeral of the Prince Consort in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, Dec. 23, 1861, and printed as the first of the Two Chorales then sung. Stanzas iv., v., beginning " I shall not in the grave remain," are set to music and were sung. The full translated is printed, without music, between the two chorales. The second chorale is, “To Thee, 0 Lord, 1 yield my spirit". In full in the Hymn Book for St. Aidan's College, 1834, and omitting stanza iii.. in Adam's Church Pastorals, 1864, the Lutheran Church Book, 1868, and others. Stanzas iv., v. beginning "I shall not in the grave remain," are given as a separate hymn in Kennedy, 1863.
4. When my appointed hour is come To pass from earth, &c. A good and full translated in the English Presbyterian Psalms & Hymns, 1867, No. 67; and repeated in Dale's English Hymn Book, 1874, and C. N. Hall's Christ Church Hymnal, 1876. Stanzas iv., v. are from the Bowring version, No. 3.
5. When my last hour is close at hand, And I must, &c. A good and full translated by Miss Winkworth, in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 193, rewritten and improved in her Christian Singers, 1869, p. 143. In the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880.
Other translations are: (1) "Jesus, by Thy Almighty pow'r," as No. 832 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1789 (1849, No. 1201). (2) "When now the solemn hour is nigh," by Dr. H. Mills, 1856, p. 243. (3) "When death arrives, and I must go," by Dr. G. Walker, 1860, p. 104. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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