WIE SOLL ICH DICH EMPFANGEN

Composer: Johann Crüger

Johann Crüger (b. Grossbriesen, near Guben, Prussia, Germany, 1598; d. Berlin, Germany, 1662) Crüger attended the Jesuit College at Olmutz and the Poets' School in Regensburg, and later studied theology at the University of Wittenberg. He moved to Berlin in 1615, where he published music for the rest of his life. In 1622 he became the Lutheran cantor at the St. Nicholas Church and a teacher for the Gray Cloister. He wrote music instruction manuals, the best known of which is Synopsis musica (1630), and tirelessly promoted congregational singing. With his tunes he often included elaborate accom­paniment for various instruments. Crüger's hymn collection, Neues vollkomliches Gesangbuch (1640), was one of the first hymnals to include figure… Go to person page >

Johann Crüger composed WIE SOLL ICH DICH EMPFANGEN for Gerhardt's text and published the tune in 1653; the tune name is the German incipit of Gerhardt's text. Enhancing a sense of personal and communal meditation, the tune gives reflective support to this text. The tune is in isorhythmic form (all equal rhythms) as well as rounded bar form (AABA). It is well suited for part singing.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988