Puer natus in Bethlehem
"Puer natus in Bethlehem" (A child is born in Bethlehem) is a medieval Latin Christmas hymn. The thirteenth-century text is traditionally associated with a fourteenth-century tune of the same name.[1]
Lyrics
Translated by Hamilton Montgomerie MacGill, 1876
Puer natus in Bethlehem, Alleluia. |
A Child is born in Bethlehem; |
Ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem
"Ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem" is Cyriakus Spangenberg's 1545 translation of "Puer natus in Bethlehem". The tune associated with this German version of the hymn, Zahn 192b, was published by Lucas Lossius in 1553 and is also known as "Puer natus in Bethlehem". Text and tune of this Lutheran hymn were used by Johann Sebastian Bach in the second movement of his church cantata Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV 65.[2]
Also Bach's chorale prelude (for organ) "Puer natus in Bethlehem", BWV 603, included in the Orgelbüchlein, is based on the same hymn tune.
See also
- "A Boy was Born", a hymn composed by Benjamin Britten
References
- ↑ The Hymnal 1982 Companion: Volume 3 - Page 201 Raymond F. Glover - 1995 "Bethlehem. Music: Puer natus in Bethlehem / This thirteenth-century text and fourteenth-century tune, a matching of enduring popularity, appears for the first time in an Episcopal hymnal in H82"
- ↑ Luke Dahn (2017). BWV 65.2 at www
.bach-chorales .com
External links
- Media related to Puer natus in Bethlehem at Wikimedia Commons