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The Singing Heart: An Analysis of the Morning and Evening Songs of Paul Gerhardt as Exercises in Evangelical Piety.
(2014-02-24) Prenzler, Matthias
Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676) was a German Lutheran pastor, and writer of spiritual songs. Gerhardt was strongly influenced by a devotional movement, often referred to as the Neue Frömmigkeit, that was evident within German Lutheranism during the first half of the seventeenth century. The influences of this piety movement are clearly evident in Gerhardt’s songs, especially his three morning and two evening songs that are known today. These five songs can be considered sung devotional meditations with meditational devices woven into their texts that naturally lead those who are singing to meditate upon the scriptures. Many of these devices are able to be examined and explored through textual analysis. This study seeks firstly to examine the background to Gerhardt’s morning and evening songs; and secondly, to engage in the analysis of selected song texts in order to investigate how they may indeed be considered exercises in evangelical piety.