January 1 

O Rejoice, Ye Christians, Loudly 

TEXT: Christian Keimann

b. February 27, 1607, Pankratz, Habsburg, Bohemia

d. January 1662, Zittau, Germany

Translated, Catherine Winkworth

After studies at the University of Wittenberg, Christian Keimann became a Lutheran pastor. In the German city of Zittau, near the Czech and Polish borders, he was initially the associate director of an elite school but became its rector in 1638. There, Keimann became prolific at the writing of hymns. A strong tradition in Zittau was to celebrate each Christmas with a town festival and pageant telling the nativity story. He wrote the play and this hymn text to be used in the performance, collaborating with Andreas Hammerschmidt who wrote the music.

TUNE: Andreas Hammerschmidt

b. December 1611, Brüx, Bohemia, Germany

d. October 29, 1675, Zittau, Germany

Andreas Hammerschmidt was a German Bohemian composer and organist, known as the “Orpheus of Zittau.” He was one of the most significant and famous composers of sacred music in Germany in the mid-seventeenth century. On August 22, 1637, he married Ursula Teuffel, the daughter of a Prague businessman, and they had six children. Hammerschmidt wrote motets, concertos, and arias, but most of his output is sacred vocal music in the concertato style. This form has melodies offered between opposing groups of voices or groups of musicians. His church contained three organs opposite each other and thus provided ideal possibilities for writing and performing this concerted style. The great J. S. Bach used the first stanza of this hymn (chorale) in one of his cantatas, and the harmonization in the accompaniment to this hymn is from Bach.

As you sing this hymn … it is critical to remember that the years of Keimann’s and Hammerschmidt’s lives coincide almost entirely with the Thirty Years War in Central Europe (1618–1648). One of the longest and most destructive conflicts, many consider it to be the worst European religious war in history, with over eight million deaths. Over the years, it devastated entire regions, with famine and disease resulting in high mortality in the populations of the German and Italian states and even the Netherlands. Both armies traditionally looted or extorted tribute to get operating funds, which imposed severe hardships on the inhabitants of occupied territories.

Through all of this, God’s devoted people proclaimed faith and continued to celebrate the birth of Christ. The refrain mentions sadness, but “done away with.” It mentions “sorrow and repining,” but proclaims the “Son of grace shines” over them. The people’s anticipation of the new year as mentioned in stanza four is not filled with dread or fear but with gladness. The hymn implores worshipers to consider the wondrous thing God has done through His incarnation and that He chooses to live with us. Though beginning in a minor key, the tune gradually transposes and ends with a strong major chord. This refrain virtually sparkles with joy as it builds. Bach’s bass harmony winds up like a catapult to proclaim the final exclamation, defying the stereotypes of troubles, much less war. May its truth defy any sadness, hardship, or grief in your life as you meditate on and sing the declarations of each phrase, making it your triumphal song for the New Year.