Chorale Partita on Auf meinen lieben Gott Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707).
This suite of pieces (BuxWV 179) by the celebrated Lübeck composer Dietrich Buxtehude, written in the form of dance movements (Allemande, Double, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue), would probably have been interspersed between the congregational singing of the chorale (there are indeed five verses). The tune was written by Jacob Regnart (ca. 1540-1599) in 1574, and is also associated with the chorale Wo soll ich fliehen hin? "Whither shall I flee?". Siegmund Weingärtner's words date from 1603, and appear to be first associated with Lübeck. "In my faithful God I trust in times of fear and trouble; He can always save me from melancholy, fearfulness and distress; He can avert my misfortune, for everything is in His hands." Regnart was born in Douai in the Low Countries, but worked in Innsbruck and then in Prague. Instead of the congregational singing, the movements are interspersed by Bach's harmonization of the chorale.
Hymn No. 197 The King of love my Shepherd is Henry Williams Baker (1821-77); Tune: Dominus Regit Me, John Bacchus Dykes (1823-76).
This hymn was written for the 1868 appendix to HAM as a version of the 23rd Psalm, and Dykes' tune was composed specially for it (the name is the Latin title of the 23rd Psalm). It was sung at the composer's funeral. Dykes, born in Hull, was playing the organ at his grandfather's church by the age of ten, and wrote over 300 hymn tunes. He went on to a distinguished career in the Church, becoming Precentor of Durham in 1849. In 1862, he became Vicar of St. Oswald's, Durham, where he remained for the rest of his life. Baker was a few years ahead of Dykes at Cambridge, but it is not unlikely that they knew each other, as Baker was also the chief promoter of Hymns Ancient and Modern.
Hymn No. 7 Christ, whose glory fills the skies Charles Wesley (1707-88); Tune: Ratisbon, (Werner's Choralbuch, 1815).
Based on Malachi 4.2 ("But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in his wings"), this was first published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740). The tune appears to be based on the German chorale Jesu meine Zuversicht "Jesus my hope". The form Ratisbon is from the Latin name of the city of Regensburg, but I do not know why the tune was so entitled. The text of Jesu meine Zuversicht is by Otto von Schwerin, the adviser of the Elector who enabled the Huguenots to come to Brandenburg, and the melody is also first attested in Berlin.
Chorale Prelude on Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
The chorale "Christ, Thou who art bright daylight, / From Thee, Lord, nothing is hidden; / Thou radiance of fatherly light, / Teach us the entire way of truth" has its orgins also in North Germany, in the Latin hymn Christe qui lux es et dies, which was translated in many variations. The most common version known today is due to Erasmus Alberus (ca. 1500 - 1553), a pupil of Luther's, reformer and minister in Hessen, writer of fables and a Latin-German dictionary. The tune was probably written by Cyriakus Spangenberg (1528-1604), a radical Lutheran and author of a hymn book (1568). Bach's prelude (BWV1096) is taken from the Neumeister Collection, rediscovered in Yale University Library in 1985. The tune is also associated with Christoph Fischer's chorale: "We thank You. Lord Jesus Christ, that You died for us, and have redeemed us with Your precious blood", making the piece especially appropriate for a morning service on the second Sunday after Easter.