Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schaar

Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schar. Martin Luther* (1483-1546). Written in 1543, to the same metre as ‘Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her’*, and also for the Christmas season, although this is a very different kind of hymn from ‘Vom Himmel hoch’. This one, beginning with the heavenly host (‘der Engel Schar’) is not only much shorter; but also, instead of the child-like delight in the story, it concentrates on the significance of the Incarnation, in which we become God’s kindred (‘nun worden Gotts Geschlecht’, verse 6; cf. Charles Wesley*, ‘Jesus is our brother now’, from ‘Glory be to God on high’*, which echoes ‘eu’r Bruder ist das ewig Gut’, verse 3). The hymn was published in Geistliche Lieder...