BETHLEHEM
Gottfried W. Fink (b. Sulza, Thuringia, Germany, 1783; d. Leipzig, Germany, 1846) composed BETHLEHEM in 1842 as a setting for Matthias Claudius’s text ‘War einst ein 666 REDEMPTION Riese Goliath. ” The tune was published with that text in Fink’s Musikalischer Hausschatz derDeutschen (1843). After studying theology at the University of Leipzig, Fink was ordained in 1809 and became an assistant pastor in that city. His main career, however, was in music. A composer for the piano, violin, and voice, Fink served as director of music and taught at the University of Leipzig. But he was especially prominent as a music scholar and critic. Editor of the influential periodical Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, Fink also wrote and edited a number of works on music theory and history. Arthur S. Sullivan (PHH 46) arranged the tune and published it as a setting for ‘While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night” (thus the tune’s title) in his Church Hymns with Tunes (1874). BETHLEHEM is a rounded bar form (AABA) with a distinctive third line. Sing the teaching stanzas (1 and 3) in unison and the middle stanza, addressed to Christ, in harmony. This tune requires a certain majesty of tempo. [Liturgical Use] With preaching on redemption, probably after the sermon; Lent.