Martin Behm
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Martin_Behm.jpg/170px-Martin_Behm.jpg)
Martin Behm (1557–1622) was a German hymnwriter.
Born in Lauban (now Lubań in Poland), Behm was deacon and later chief pastor of the town's Holy Trinity Church.[1] He wrote approximately 480 hymns, including "Herr Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht" (used by J.S. Bach in his cantata Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid, BWV 58) and "O Jesu Christ, mein's Lebens Licht" (used by Bach for his motet of the same name).[1] This hymn was translated as "Lord Jesus Christ, My Life, My Light,"[2] and both are sung to the same tune, "O Jesu Christ, mein's."[3] Carl Schalk wrote that Behm was among the poets at the end of the early Lutheran hymnody period who "produced in a truly popular vein an appreciable number of excellent hymns characterized by objectivity and childlike naivete".[4]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Martin Behm". Hymnary.org. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
- ^ Lord Jesus Christ, My Life, My Light (text)
- ^ Polack, W.G. (1941). Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal. St. Louis: Concordia. p. 116., for the tune, see the mp3 for Lord Jesus Christ, My Life, My Light, which has eleven verses of organ only music
- ^ Schalk, Carl (1994). "German Church Song". In Glover, Raymond F (ed.). The Hymnal 1982 companion. Church Hymnal Corp. p. 299. ISBN 9780898691436.
Further reading[]
- Franz Lau (1955), "Behm, Martin", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), 2, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 8; (full text online)
- 1557 births
- 1622 deaths
- German Lutheran hymnwriters
- German religious biography stubs