Spracharbeit und interkonfessionelle Liedtradition

Abstract

Abstract This article deals with the numerous psalm songs that Martin Opitz composed between 1626 and 1638 to melodies from the Geneva Psalter. It discusses them in the context of the great tradition of Protestant psalm songs which had flourished since the Reformation and considers their role for Opitz’s poetics and linguistic reflection (‘Spracharbeit’). In the first part, the essay presents Opitz’s translation work on the Psalter showing that the poet wanted to create a normative example of German-language sacred poetry. We then reconstruct Opitz’s poetics on the basis of his songs on Psalm 6, linking it to the European tradition of the psalm song as well as to theological and dogmatic issues.