Thursday, April 9, 2026

It is the 9th of April 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It would not be hyperbole to suggest that the most impactful and practical change that took place in modern church history was the introduction of regular congregational singing as prayer, worship, and instruction.

Think of the place of music, congregational music, in your church today. We have dealt, and can again, in another place, with the introduction of church music from the East and Ambrose and the move to plainsong and then polyphony and chorales. But how did we get to the modern hymn and song- the didactic (teaching) and emotive songs designed to be sung by all in the common tongue?

It would be fair to place the son of a Sorbian innkeeper at the center of this story- he was Johannes Crueger, born and/or baptized on the 9th of April in 1598 near Guben (today in Germany on the Polish border). His father was descended from those Slavs who had been pushed into the Germanic territories, settling in Brandenburg. Johan, or Jan (recent scholarship has suggested his Sorbian identity be emphasized), was well educated and eventually spent time on a walking tour of Europe, where he spent time in modern Poland and Austria, Hungary, and then settled down in Berlin. In his travels, he studied under Paulus Hamburger, who had studied music in Vienna.

Crueger would go to Wittenberg to study theology, but made his way back to Berlin, where he first worked as a private tutor before being hired in 1622, at the age of 24, as the cantor at the Nikolaikirche in Berlin, where he would serve for the rest of his life.

Crueger would be amongst the first theorists who would write handbooks on singing and composition for the church, for choirs and congregations. He worked in the Kantional style- the melody being sung by the highest voice, the organ and lower voices could provide harmony, but the “top line” was the recognizable tune sung by most.

He also saw the utility in separating texts and tunes. Unlike the old Meistersinger tradition, which saw in effect “singer/singwriters” he developed tunes (often in modern tonal, not modal forms- that is, “In G minor” with chords in triads that resolved. If this doesn’t make sense- that’s ok- it’s how most of us sing today).

Crueger would publish many hymnals as well, with different texts set to different tunes- his “Praxis Pietatis Melica” went through 45 editions and reprints in less than one hundred years after his death, and swelled from less than 400 to more than 1300 songs.

The “Pietatis” doesn’t tie directly to the “pietist” movement, which comes a bit later, but it’s worth noting that Crueger’s hymnals would begin to emphasize the “I” and “me” instead of the always corporate “we”- if this is upsetting in any way, I’d suggest a closer read of the Psalms.

Perhaps the name Johann Crueger is familiar because of the weekend edition two weeks ago, when we told the story of the hymn O Sacred Head Now Wounded. It was Paul Gerhardt who took the medieval hymn and turned it into the classic to be used by Bach and then translated into English. Paul Gerhardt met Crueger in Berlin when Gerhardt was a private tutor in the 1640s. In 1657, Gerhardt would join the Nikolaikirche as a deacon, and there he would begin to compose the poetry that Crueger would then set to music. Crueger would slightly alter and simplify the old tune to what we call “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” and popularize it in his hymnals.

A Sorbian- a Slavic minority from the backwoods of Brandenburg- Jan Kryger would become Johannes Crueger, one of the most important figures in modern congregational singing, and would die in 1662. Born and/or baptized on this day in 1598, he was 64 years old.

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Psalm 16:

Keep me safe, my God,
 for in you I take refuge.

I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
 apart from you I have no good thing.”

I say of the holy people who are in the land,
 “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”

Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
 I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
 or take up their names on my lips.

Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
 you make my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
 surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
 even at night my heart instructs me.

I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
 With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
 my body also will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
 nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

You make known to me the path of life;
 you will fill me with joy in your presence,
 with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 9th of April 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who has noted the preponderance of the name “Cruger” in various forms of anime and manga… he can’t get enough of that stuff. He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who is asking we retire the umlaut- just add the “e” after the vowel with the umlaut- it looks cool, but slows down the typing- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.