German

Martin Luther

1483–1546


Martin Luther was born at Eisleben in 1483 and died there in 1546. An Augustinian friar and professor at the University of Wittenberg, he was the leading figure of the German Reformation, and he wrote some three dozen hymns, among them Ein feste Burg and Christ lag in Todesbanden, which helped establish congregational singing in German.

The English versions here are Catherine Winkworth's in Lyra Germanica (1855).

  1. From Heaven above to earth I come
  2. Out of the depths I cry to thee
  3. In the bonds of Death He lay
  4. Come, Holy Spirit, God and Lord
  5. In the midst of life, behold
  6. God is our stronghold firm and sure
  7. Dame Music
  8. Come, saviour of nations wild
  9. Jesus we now must laud and sing
  10. A Song of Praise for the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ
  11. A Song of the Little Child Jesus, for Children at Christmas. Taken Out of the Second Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke
  12. Another Christ-song
  13. Herod, why dreadest thou a foe
  14. Death held our Lord in prison
  15. A Song of Praise for Easter
  16. Come, God, Creator, Holy Ghost
  17. Come, Holy Spirit, Lord and God
  18. A Song of Praise
  19. God, the Father, with us be
  20. Thou who art three in unity
  21. The Twelfth Psalm
  22. The Fourteenth Psalm
  23. The Fourty-sixth Psalm
  24. The Hundred and Twenty-fourth Psalm
  25. A Children’s Song, to Sing Against the Two Archenemies of Christ and His Holy Church, the Pope and the Turks
  26. A Song of the Holy Christian Church, From the Twelfth Chapter of the Apocalypse
  27. A Song Concerning the Two Martyrs of Christ, Burnt at Brussels by the Sophists of Loubaine, Which Took Place in the Year 1523
  28. The Sixty-seventh Psalm
  29. The Hundred and Twenty-eighth Psalm
  30. A Song of Thanksgiving for the Benefits Most Great Which God Hath Shown to Us in Christ
  31. These are the holy ten commands
  32. Oh man, wouldst thou live blissfully
  33. In one true God we all believe
  34. The Lord’s Prayer, Briefly and Plainly Set Forth, and Turned Into Metre
  35. The Litany
  36. Peach to us in thy mercy grant
  37. A Spiritual Song, Concerning Our Holy Baptism, Wherein Is Briefly Contained What It Is, Who Has Instituted It, Whereto It Serves, &c
  38. The Hundred and Thirtieth Psalm
  39. A Song of St. John Huss, Improved by Dr. Martin Luther
  40. A Song of Praise
  41. In the midst of life, we are
  42. Simeon the Patriarch’s Song of Praise
  43. Unto the seer, Isaiah, it was given
  44. The Song of Praise “te Teum Laudamus,” Turned Into German by Dr. Mart. Luther
  45. Of Life at Court
  46. Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott

See Martin Luther in the full archive →