"Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich" (Praise God, all
Christians equally) is a German Christmas carol with
lyrics and melody by Nikolaus Herman. It is part of
Protestant and Catholic hymnals, has inspired musical
settings, and has been translated. The title is also
known as "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen allzugleich". The
song is traditionally dated 1560, because it appeared
then in eight stanzas with the melody, Zahn No. 198, in
Wittenberg. The melody was connected before in 1554
with the text "Komm...(+)
"Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich" (Praise God, all
Christians equally) is a German Christmas carol with
lyrics and melody by Nikolaus Herman. It is part of
Protestant and Catholic hymnals, has inspired musical
settings, and has been translated. The title is also
known as "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen allzugleich". The
song is traditionally dated 1560, because it appeared
then in eight stanzas with the melody, Zahn No. 198, in
Wittenberg. The melody was connected before in 1554
with the text "Kommt her, ihr lieben Schwesterlein". An
early version of text and melody appeared already
around 1550 on a leaf ("Liedblatt") Drey geistliche
Weyhnacht/ lieder, vom Newgebornen kindlin Jesu / für
die kinder im Joachimstal (Three sacred Christmas
songs, of the newborn little child Jesus / for the
children in the Joachimstal).
Herman based the melody on the Gregorian introit
antiphon for Christmas "Puer natus est nobis" (A boy is
born for us"). The first line was often rendered as
"Lobt Gott, ihr Christen allzugleich" from the
beginning of the 17th century, which became the title
of musical settings of the period. The hymn was
translated by August Crull as "Praise God the Lord, ye
sons of men". In the German Protestant hymnal
Evangelisches Gesangbuch, the hymn was adopted as EG
27, with six stanzas (1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8), and in the
Catholic hymnal Gotteslob as GL 247, with four stanzas
(1, 2, 3 and 8).
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobt_Gott,_ihr_Christen_
alle_gleich#:~:text=%22Lobt%20Gott%2C%20ihr%20Christen%
20alle,Gott%2C%20ihr%20Christen%20allzugleich%22.).
Although originally written for Mandolin & period
instruments (Tenor & Basso Continuo), I created this
Interpretation of "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich"
(Praise God, all Christians equally) for String Quartet
(2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
