Johann Crüger: Praxis Pietatis Melcia. Edition and documentation of the work history

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Müller-Bahlke
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 504147381

The last volume of our edition to be printed, PPMEDW 11/1, again consists of two volumes, which is due on the one hand to the considerable volume that clearly exceeds the previous volumes, but on the other hand is also recommended for reasons of content. PPMEDW 11/1.1 contains detailed bibliographical information on all the sources used for the edition, combined with descriptions of their respective history, fate and understanding. Thedescriptions are enriched by numerous pictorial reproductions and also sometimes very extensive reproductions of larger passages, such as prefaces, which are intended to further support the endeavour to understand the hymnals. Other sources on the history of the PRAXIS PIETATIS MELICA are treated in a similar way, for example a petition by the printer Christoph Runge to the Berlin court to obtain a privilege. Some of this material has been very difficult to obtain, and the relevant bibliographies have proved to be out of date in many respects. As a result, but even more so in combination with the lavish reproductions of images and texts and the appraisals of the sources against the backdrop of years of editing work, this volume of documents is likely to be significant for hymnology and research into the history of piety and culture in the 17th century. Two points within this presentation should be particularly noted: Firstly, the "Editio VIII." of the PRAXIS PIETATIS MELICA from 1659 is presented, which had been lost since the middle of the 19th century and of which only very vague knowledge existed until then. In the summer of 2019, the PPMEDW's research centre was able to find a previously completely unknown copy of this edition - a source find that can justifiably be described as sensational. On the other hand, against the background of the experience gained in the course of the editing work, a reconstruction of the important second edition of 1647, the first PRAXIS PIETATIS MELICA in the narrower sense, lost since the Second World War, was achieved. PPMEDW 11/1.2 contains a complete edition of the 392 four-part song movements as they appear in the "Editio XXIV" of the PRAXIS PIETATIS MELICA of 1690, which was commissioned by the Berlin city musician Jacob Hintze. Some of them are merely replacements of previous basic cantus scaffolding, but there are also completely new ones. In this respect, the edition is out of the ordinary, and its compositions embody their own kind of reception of the estate. Nevertheless, Hintze also notes that he was able to draw on Crüger's estate. With only three exceptions, the movements are not yet available in modern editions. By dividing the volume PPMEDW 11/1, which is ready for printing, into two parts, this edition is distinguished from the other documents on the history of the work. An index of persons common to all six volumes concludes the work.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants