"Es wird schier der letzten Tag herkommen" (Lo, the final day is fast approaching), NLGB 393 (Judgment Day/Doomsday, Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Life), has text and melody of Michael Weisse, 20 4-line stanzas (Zahn melody 1423). This is one of the few Trinity Time Hymns of the Day that is assigned only to one other Sunday (Trinity 25, Pulpit hymn) and is not well-known, although the theme Judgement Day is significant. The Source is the Bohemian Bretheran (and martyrs) Kirchengeseng church songbook of 1580 (see Wackernagel, p. 253); Text and English translation, Michael Carver, Hymnoglypt 2009/12, http://matthaeusglyptes.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html, scroll down to last entry. "The tune (in D minor), later known as the proper for this hymn, in the aforementioned hymnal is named `Ach, Gott, man mag wohl in diesen Tagen' (Ah, God, one may well in this day)." J.S. Bach set "Es wird schier der letzten Tag herkommen," as a plain chorale, BWV 310 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0310.htm, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b2tIZ2c8Zs) in E minor. It also is found in the Sebastian Bach Choral-Buch (SBCB, p. 259), under the category "Last Judgment."
Source: Eschatological Chorales, Coming in Judgement (William L. Hoffman, December 24, 2017) |