MEINE HOFFNUNG

Composer: Joachim Neander

Neander, Joachim, was born at Bremen, in 1650, as the eldest child of the marriage of Johann Joachim Neander and Catharina Knipping, which took place on Sept. 18, 1649, the father being then master of the Third Form in the Paedagogium at Bremen. The family name was originally Neumann (Newman) or Niemann, but the grandfather of the poet had assumed the Greek form of the name, i.e. Neander. After passing through the Paedagogium he entered himself as a student at the Gymnasium illustre (Academic Gymnasium) of Bremen in Oct. 1666. German student life in the 17th century was anything but refined, and Neander seems to have been as riotous and as fond of questionable pleasures as most of his fellows. In July 1670, Theodore Under-Eyck came to Breme… Go to person page >

MEINE HOFFNUNG received its name from its association with Joachim Neander's (PHH 244) text "Meine Hoffnung stehet feste" ("All My Hope on God Is Founded"). The tune was published with Newton's text in Neander's Alpha and Omega (1680). (The chorale found in Johann S. Bach's Cantata 40 is very loosely based on MEINE HOFFNUNG.)

To reflect the emphases in the text, sing stanzas 1 and 3 in unison and stanzas 2 and 4 in harmony. Singers and accompanists should note the built-in ritardando in the final long line; no further expressive device needs to be added in the final stanza.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988