Wednesday 30 December 2015

The plot thickens - versions of 'Min Jesus, lad mit hjerte få...'

As can be seen from the last entry, Grundtvig has 'lavishly borrowed' from the four last verses of  Bjørn Christian Lund's original hymn 'Naar jeg gethsemane her faer' (1764). It is claimed that these verses appeared in a revised version in a hymnbook published in 1778. These I have not yet located. The version next in print is from 1829, and was published in Christiania (Oslo). Grundtvig's version from 1846 has now been located in Psalmer til den still Uge og Paasken, edited by J.F. and R. Th. Fenger. The next printed version is in the Landstad hymnbook of 1870. And a book published in 1873, funded by the Grundtvigske Salmefond, and claiming to be printed hymns and spiritual songs by Grundtvig himself presents us with a version that does not differ except for spelling from the 1846 version. Both the earliest and latest Grundtvig version do not have 'lystelig/hjem til dig' in the second verse, nor any mention of 'til påskemorgen rød'. The 'Som opstod hvid og rød' line is still found in some 20th century versions with Carl Nielsen's music.
To see all six versions of these four verses, go to here.

PS. In the index, Grundtvig does NOT take credit for having written the hymn: it says 'Gl. Psalme' in brackets:


1 comment:

John Irons said...

In Tilläg til Salmebog for Kirke- og Hus-Andagt, published by G. Rasmussens Boghandel in Chicago, 1880, however, we find Mig sød og lystelig’for line 2, Og tager hjem til dig for line 4, and Til Paaskemorgen rød for line 10. It looks as if the hymn existed in two versions for quite a long time.