Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott

Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott. Martin Luther* (1483-1546), based on a pre-Reformation German antiphon, ‘Komm heiliger Geist’, sometimes associated with the monastery of Melk (see ‘Austrian hymnody’*). Like ‘Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist’*, which it follows in EG, this hymn (EG 125) begins with a pre-Reformation text that Luther then developed in his own way. The original verse was an antiphon based on ‘Veni, sancte spiritus: reple tuorum corda fidelium’* (see Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus II. 315), to which Luther added the two stanzas, one on light and obedience (‘daß wir nicht Meister suchen mehr’), the other on comfort (‘süßer Trost’) and strength (‘und wehr des Fleisches...