AN WASSERFLÜSSEN BABYLON

Composer: Wolfgang Dachstein

Dachstein, Wolfgang, was, prior to the Reformation, a monk at Strassburg, and organist of the Cathedral. In 1524 he espoused the cause of the Reformation, and in 1525 was appointed organist and assistant preacher at St. Thomas's Church, which offices he held till at least 1530 (Koch, ii. 103-104).Along with his friend M. Greitter (q.v.) he edited the first Strassburg Hymnbook, the Kirchen ampt, published in 1525. Two of his Psalm versions have been translated into English, but he is best known as author of the melody which is set to the first of these.    i. An Wasserflüssen Babylon. [Ps. cxxxvii.] 1st pub. 1525, pt. iii, as above, and thence in Wackernage, iii. p. 98, in 5 st. of 10 1. The translations, almost identical, are : (1)… Go to person page >

Tune Information

Title: AN WASSERFLÜSSEN BABYLON
Composer: Wolfgang Dachstein (1525)
Meter: 8.7.8.7.8.8.8.7.8.7
Incipit: 56535 44323 45432
Key: F Major
Source: Teutsch Kirchenampt, Strassburg, 1535; Har. as in "Gesangbuch mit Noten";Wolff Köpphel's Straburger Kirchenamt, 1525
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

The tune AN WASSERFLÜSSEN BABYLON was composed by Wolfgang Dachstein (b. Gffenburg an der Kinzig, Germany, 1487; d. Strasbourg, Germany, 1553) and published in the Strassburger Kirchenampt (1525), edited by Dachstein and his friend Matthaus Greiter. In that collection it was the setting for Dachstein's German versification of Psalm 137, from which the tune name derives (in English, "By the rivers of Babylon"). The tune is similar in character to Genevan psalm tunes that were published slightly later, and it has always been associated with the Song of Zechariah in the Genevan psalm-singing tradition, which did permit the singing of the Lukan canticles. In bar form (AAB) with a long and complex B section, AN WASSERFLÜSSEN BABYLON is a challenging tune for congregations, but well loved by those who were nurtured in the Genevan tradition. The melisma in the final phrase effectively produces a strong ending.

Dachstein came from a long line of theologians and musicians originally from the town of Dachstein near Strasbourg. In 1503 he studied theology in Erfurt (Martin Luther was in that city in 1503 as well) and became a Dominican monk. He was an organist at both the Cathedral and the St. Thomas Church in Strasbourg and lived there at the same time as John Calvin, who was working on the Genevan Psalter. Converted to Protestantism in 1523, he became the assistant pastor at St. Thomas Church but later returned to Roman Catholicism to retain his position as organist at the Cathedral. Dachstein and Matthaus Greiter co-edited the Teutsch Kirchenamt mit Lobgesengen (1525), one of the earliest Lutheran prayer and hymnbooks.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988

Timeline

Arrangements

Harmonizations, Introductions, Descants, Intonations

  • Introductions and Alternate Accompaniments for Organ Volume 2: Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Hymns 304 - 360
    Composer/Editors Norma Aamodt-Nelson; Mark Weiler; Joseph A. Bognar
    Published By: Augsburg Fortress (2008) pp. 340
  • Introductions and Alternate Accompaniments for Piano Volume 2: Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Hymns 304 - 360
    Composer/Editors Norma Aamodt-Nelson; Mark Weiler; Aaron David Miller
    Published By: Augsburg Fortress (2007) pp. 340
  • Introductions, Interludes, and Codas On Traditional Hymn Tunes: Set 2 Lent Easter Pentecost
    Composer/Editor Donald Rotermund
    Published By: MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc. (2000) pp. 2
  • Hymn Descants Set 2: With C and B flat Instrument Parts
    Composer/Editor Stanley Drummond Wolff
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1990) pp. 1
  • Basic Hymn Accompaniments Volume II: Lent - Easter - Pentecost
    Composer/Editor Thomas R. Pearce
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1988) pp. 4
  • The Concordia Hymn Prelude Series Volume 7: Lent: A - Herzlich
    Composer/Editors Herbert Gotsch; Friedrich Zipp
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1982) pp. 13
  • Hymns for the Church Year: 68 Accompaniment Settings for Keyboard of the Hymns of the Day
    Composer/Editor Roger Petrich
    Published By: Augsburg Publishing House (1980) pp. 22
  • Hymn Preludes and Free Accompaniments 7
    Composer/Editor Charles W. Ore
    Published By: Augsburg Publishing House (1978) pp. LL
  • New Organ Accompaniments for Selected Hymns of Paul Gerhardt
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1976) pp. 4
  • Intonations for the Hymn of the Week
    Composer/Editor Theodore Beck
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1969) pp. 21
  • The Hymn of the Week: Tabulatura Americana Pars Prima Organ Settings
    Composer/Editor Jan Bender
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1961) pp. 26

Organ Solo

  • Good Friday Reflections: Organ Meditations on Stations of the Cross
    Composer/Editors David M. Cherwien; Susan Palo Cherwien
    Published By: MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc. (2015) pp. 6
  • Journey to the Cross: Hymn Preludes for Lent and Holy Week
    Composer/Editor James Biery
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (2013) pp. 5
  • Hymn Prelude Library Volume One Tunes A: Lutheran Service Book
    Composer/Editors Kevin J. Hildebrand; Ralph C. Schultz
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (2012) pp. 66, 70
  • The Organist's Companion Volume 33 Number 2 January February 2011: A Bi-monthly Journal of Quality Organ Music for the Practical Church Musician
    Composer/Editors Wayne Leupold; Johann Gottfried Walther
    Published By: Wayne Leupold Editions, Inc. (2011) pp. 24
  • Four Preludes for Lent
    Composer/Editor Bernard Wayne Sanders
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (2009) pp. 6
  • Imprint Your Image: Easy Organ Settings for Lent
    Composer/Editor Kevin J. Hildebrand
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (2006) pp. 3
  • Easy Organ Library Volume 39: A Collection of Organ Voluntaries for Church Use
    Composer/Editor Sarah Douglas
    Published By: Lorenz Publishing Company (2005) pp. 12
  • Passiontide and Easter for Organ: Orgelmusik zur Passions- und Osterzeit
    Composer/Editors Andreas Rockstroh; Max Gulbins
    Published By: Bärenreiter-Verlag Karl Vötterle GmbH & Co. KG, Kassel, Germany (2005) pp. 2, 16
  • Passiontide and Easter for Organ: Orgelmusik zur Passions- und Osterzeit
    Composer/Editors Andreas Rockstroh; Max Gulbins
    Published By: Bärenreiter-Verlag Karl Vötterle GmbH & Co. KG, Kassel, Germany (2005) pp. 16
  • The Organist Volume 109 Number 1 March April 2005: The Service Music Companion for Church Organists
    Composer/Editors Gilbert M. Martin; Sarah Douglas
    Published By: Lorenz Publishing Company (2005) pp. 12
  • The Sacred Organ Journal Volume 34 Number 4 March April 2000: A Bi-Monthly Anthology for Church Organists
    Composer/Editors Mark Barnard; Joseph Prentiss
    Published By: Lorenz Publishing Company (2000) pp. 9
  • The Sacred Organ Journal Volume 34 Number 4 March April 2000: The Organist's Companion for the Church Year
    Composer/Editors Mark Barnard; Joseph Prentiss
    Published By: Lorenz Publishing Company (2000) pp. 9
  • An Eternity of Praise 30 Chorale Preludes from Present-Day Germany: 30 Chorale Preludes From Present-day Germany
    Composer/Editors John A. Behnke; Herbert Paulmichl
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1999) pp. 4
  • An Eternity of Praise 30 Chorale Preludes from Present-Day Germany: European Connection Volume 1
    Composer/Editor John A. Behnke
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1999) pp. 4
  • An Eternity of Praise 30 Chorale Preludes from Present-Day Germany: European Connection Volume 1
    Composer/Editor John A. Behnke
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1999) pp. 4
  • The Organist's Companion Volume 12 Number 2 January 1990 General, Lent, Holy Week, Funerals: A Bi-monthly Journal of Quality Organ Music for the Practical Church Musician
    Composer/Editors Wayne Leupold; Stephen James Rohde
    Published By: McAfee Music Corporation (1990) pp. 26-29
  • The Sacred Organ Folio No. 39
    Composer/Editor James Mansfield
    Published By: Lorenz Publishing Company (1989) pp. 8
  • The Sacred Organ Journal Volume 23 Number 4 March 1989: A Bi-Monthly Anthology for Church Organists
    Composer/Editors Howard Wells; James Mansfield
    Published By: Lorenz Publishing Company (1989) pp. 8
  • The Concordia Hymn Prelude Series Volume 7: Lent: A - Herzlich
    Composer/Editors Herbert Gotsch; Friedrich Zipp
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1982) pp. 12
  • Seasonal Chorale Preludes with Pedals: Book 1 Advent Christmas Epiphany Lent Passiontide General
    Composer/Editor C. H. Trevor
    Published By: Oxford University Press (1963) pp. 24
  • The Parish Organist Part Seven: Lent, Palm Sunday and Holy Week
    Composer/Editors Erich Goldschmidt; Johann Pachelbel
    Published By: Concordia Publishing House (1956) pp. 8
  • 80 Chorale Preludes: German Masters of the 17th and 18th Centuries
    Composer/Editors Hermann Keller; Johann Pachelbel
    Published By: C. F. Peters Corporation (1951) pp. 14
  • The Church Organist's Golden Treasury Volume One -- An Anthology of Choral Preludes: Carl F. Pfatteicher
    Composer/Editors Archibald T. Davison; Johann Gottfried Walther
    Published By: Oliver Ditson Company (1949) pp. 46-47, 50
  • Choral-Improvisations for Organ Op. 65 Volume 2
    Composer/Editor Sigfrid Karg-Elert
    Published By: Edward B. Marks Music Company (1941) pp. 3
  • Seventy-nine Chorales for the Organ Opus 28
    Composer/Editor Marcel Dupre
    Published By: The H. W. Gray Company, Inc. (1932) pp. 7

Media

Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary #803
  • Four-part harmony, full-score (PDF, NWC)
The Cyber Hymnal #7836
Text: A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining forth
  • PDF (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer Score (NWC)
The Cyber Hymnal #13498
Text: Ein Lämmlein Geht
  • PDF (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer Score (NWC)
Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #213
Text: Song of Zechariah
  • Bulletin Score (melody only) (PDF)
  • Full Score (PDF, XML)
  • Bulletin Score (PDF)

Instances

Instances (1 - 16 of 16)
ScoreAudio

Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary #803

Christian Worship (1993) #100

Christian Worship #422

Page Scan

Christian Worship #658

Christian Worship #137A

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #331

Audio

Evangelical Lutheran Worship #340

Lutheran Service Book #438

Lutheran Worship #111

One and All Rejoice #199

Text InfoTune InfoScoreAudio

Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #213

Audio

Small Church Music #1744

TextPage Scan

Śpiewnik Ewangelicki #112

ScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #7836

Text

The Cyber Hymnal #9665

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #13498

Include 23 pre-1979 instances
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