10 October 2007

On Not Improving Hymns

In researching Gerhardt and his hymnody, I was struck by the following passage from the book, In the Shadow of His Wings: Paul Gerhardt and His Hymns (an English translation by Nelda Roth of Paul Gerhardt und seine Lieder, by Jörg Erb). I suspect it will resonate with my good friend, Susan, who already doesn't need any convincing on this matter.

Commenting on the many "improvements" that are made, not only in the translating of hymns but by way of editing the texts in their original language, the author first of all observes that "these improvements are divided into two fundamenally different groups. For the first: one takes offense at a grammatical expression, finds it doesn't help, and [makes a change that] becomes out of date and no more understandable. Worse is the other art for improvement . . . [wherein] there was less concern for the form of the speech than the contents of the statement, which was watered down and falsified according to the taste of the times."

Then follows the assessment of one Mathias Claudius, who "did not think much of such improvements." His opinion is cited, as follows: "In modern times the old church hymns will be changed. Now I am convinced that the government could not do anything better or give anything better to their subjects than a good hymnbook. Nothing surpasses powerful hymns. There is a blessing in them, and they are like wings of truth on which we can for a time float over the vale of tears. Of course, many hymns are not the way they should be, which is very true. But I don't know if the fault lies with the improvement or the improver. Enough!

"It seems to me the outfit does not make the man, and if the man is good, then all is good. If there is a button not in the right place or a seam sewed crooked, is that so important in the end? Who sees it? One is so used to that and often one insists that it must be just so. So for an example of 'Commit whatever grieves thee,' which at times in younger years wasn't as it should have been, it was often sung devotionally with the mother. It was like an old friend in the house who was trusted and from whom advice and comfort was sought in similar situations. If these are set-up in a different way and put to modern rock, then we don't trust Him, and we are not certain if the old friend is still in there looking for the misplaced button and crooked seam." (In the Shadow of His Wings, translated by Nelda Roth, 2001, pages 129-131)


Susan said...

A bit ironic that "Commit Whatever Grieves Thee" (the only hymn title in that quote) has recently been "improved" to "Entrust Your Days and Burdens." [sigh] At least I didn't have that one memorized, so it doesn't break my heart when we sing it out of LSB.

Eric said...

Pastor Stuckwisch,
Can you comment on how there came to be such different translations of A Mighty Fortress, and why our Synod has selected the version found in LW and LSB? My wife and my mother don't like it, and I must admit they seem to have a point. Is it a more (or less) faithful translation? What's the deal?


Rev. Rick Stuckwisch said...

Thanks for the comments.

Susan, I noted that irony, as well, although the change in this case was introduced with Lutheran Worship rather than with the LSB. The hymn in question has undergone so many different translations over the years that its not as though a single, solid tradition has here been unnervingly "improved." I will say that "Entrust" fits Gerhardt's interests and emphases more nicely than "Commit." So, there you go.

Eric, have you and your family noticed that there are two different versions of A Mighty Fortress in the Lutheran Service Book, as there were also in Lutheran Worship? The one version (LSB 656) is very much like TLH and LW 298; the other version (LSB 657) follows LW 297 and is either identical or very similar to the Lutheran Book of Worship (the green book of 1978). Not only the texts but the musical settings are different.

The newer version came about with the work of the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, which was attempting to arrive at a common translation and musical setting of A Mighty Fortress for all of the English-speaking Lutherans in this country to use. There were different traditions in this regard between the different Lutheran trajectories (German and Scandinavian); so TLH and the old Service Book and Hymnal (the red book of 1958) had different versions.

When the LCMS opted out of the LBW and produced Lutheran Worship as a revision of LBW, the decision was made to keep the newer version of A Mighty Fortress, in order to have that in common with the other Lutherans who worked on LBW, but also to retain the version familiar to us (and others) from TLH. That same situation has now been continued in the LSB.

Hope this helps.