Es ist ein Ros entsprungen

I played this hymn at a wedding last night and recalled just how beautiful it is. The German original was published in 1588 or possibly earlier as a Catholic hymn. The words were focused on Mary compared to the mystical rose in Song of Solomon 2:1 "I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys." By around 1608 a Protestant version was adopted with focus on Jesus from Isaiah 11:1, "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,and a branch shall grow out of his roots."
Scholars believe the origin to have been from Trier. A popular story tells of a monk in Trier who found a rose blooming in the woods on Christmas eve and placed it in a vase before a statue of the Virgin Mary. The harmonization played here is by Michael Praetorius. There are numerous versions of the text, you can find the original in the "Alte Catholische Geistliche Kirchengeseng", Cologne, from 1599. There were 23 original verses.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Es
• ist
• ein
• Ros
• entsprungen
• Lo
• How
• Rose
• E'er
• Blooming
• violin
• flute
• catholic
• hymn
• christmas

[mux256]

23 verses? The Speyer Hymnal (Cologne, 1599) only published two verses, a third one has been added by Friedrich Layritz in 1844. All the sheets I have myself or have seen until today only have three verses. One interesting thing is that the Protestant Michael Praetorius modified the second verse in 1609 so that there is a Protestant and the original Catholic version.

Also, it's funny that you've played this at a wedding as it is only used as a Christmas carol here in German speaking countries.

[guarneriviolinaddict]

Yes here in the US it is also played at Christmas, this was a special request from the bride

I've only managed to find 15 or so of the German verses from the music libraries here. Oddly it appeared with 19, then 23 in both the Alte Catholische and the Speirschen hymnal, then with 6, and then the 3 we find in the Praetorius and Vulpius harmonizations. I would love to find them all but there does not seem to be a single good source even in the serious music libraries

[benaggreyfynn]

Beautiful video and very consoling music. Good for the soul.

I love this hymn indeed.

Thanks for sharing.

Welldone and God bless you, my friend †