The Reception of Hymns by Philipp Ruhig: From the 18th to the mid-20th Century

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the hymnodic legacy of Philipp Ruhig (1675–1749), a priest from Prussian Lithuania and one of the most prolific figures of Lithuanian literature of the 18^th century, or more presicely, it is devoted to the reception of his hymns in the official church hymnals of Prussian Lithuania from the fourth decade of the 18th century to the mid-20^th century. Based on primary sources that have survived to this day, the hymns translated and created by Ruhig, which were first published in Johann Behrendt’s hymnal Iß naujo pérweizdėtos ir pagérintos Giesmû-Knygos [Newly Revised and Improved Hymn Books] (Königsberg, 1732), and included in later editions, are analysed in terms of quantity and quality. A comparative analysis of Prussian Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran hymnals has revealed that the number of Ruhig’s hymns in the official church hymnal grew gradually: from 9 in the first editions of the so-called Quandt-Behrendt hymnal to 12 in later editions. The durability of these hymns is evidenced by the fact that they all became a stable part of the official Lithuanian hymnal until the eve of World War II, i. e., the last edition of Pagerintos giesmų knygos [Improved Hymnal] (Klaipėda, 1936), and some of them were included in the current Evangelical Lutheran hymnal Krikščioniškos giesmės [Christian Hymns] (Vilnius, 2007). The analysis also showed that, starting with the first edition, these hymns were edited to a greater or lesser extent