Two Hymns Rescued from the Politicians

There are a number of hymns in our hymnal that, for good or ill, have had past associations with politics and government. One that still retains some of its past negative association is "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken," 731, United Methodist Hymnal. This is a familiar and often-sung hymn, with words written by "Amazing Grace" author John Newton. Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn adapted a Croatian folk hymn melody and arranged it to serve as the melody of the Austrian national anthem, "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser," in 1797. The tune went on to serve as a theme for a Haydn string quartet movement and was used as a hymn tune by 1802.

It is the tune (AUSTRIA) that has political associations. During World War II in Nazi Germany, Hitler's storm troopers sang the tune with its own anthem, "Deutschland über alles." Hymnal editor Carlton Young relates the firsthand account of attending a ceremony in 1983 to grant an honorary degree at Cannon Chapel, Emory University in Atlanta, to Elie Wiesel, survivor of Hitler's death camps and famed Nazi hunter. Wiesel was to deliver a paper on "Remembering the Holocaust." "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" with its AUSTRIA tune had been selected for singing at the occasion, resulting in a puzzled and pained expression on Wiesel's face. The insensitive selection demonstrates that music, including hymns with political associations, "may hurt as well as heal" (Young, Companion to The United Methodist Hymnal, Abingdon Press, 1993, page 354).

A second hymn with Nazi political associations is UMH 442, "Weary of All Trumpeting." In the 1930s when the Nazis invaded Austria, they would force the people to attend huge political rallies in outdoor sports stadiums; and at these rallies, the people would sing fiercely nationalistic and pro-Nazi songs. At the time, Hugo Distler, who had previously served as organist in the same church where Buxtehude had served in Lübeck, taught music and church music and was an established composer. For ten years the Nazis forced him to compose and arrange music for their cause, including songs for these large political gatherings. This hymn tune, TRUMPETS, is one of those pro-Nazi tunes, first used at the dedication of a large sports stadium. After being forced to serve the Nazi regime, Distler committed suicide in 1942 in Berlin at the age of 34.

Jan Bender was Distler's student and himself a gifted organist, church musician, director, composer, and professor. After the war, he remembered the tune the Nazis had forced Distler to compose. He asked American Lutheran hymn writer Martin Franzmann to write new words for the TRUMPETS tune. Franzmann's text, "Weary of All Trumpeting," " . . . transforms the shrill sounds of martial trumpets, the symbols and metaphors of violence, hate, and war, into God's clarion call to celebrate Christ's triumph over death in a life of self-denial as partners in Christ's splendor" (Young, Companion to The United Methodist Hymnal, page 684).