RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Taylor, Teellinck
Deum: " Grosser Gott, wir loben Dich," which has become an ecclesiastical popular song and has found its way into the Evangelical church. The text is by Ignaz Franz (b. at Prozau, in the district of Frankenstein, Oct. 12, 1719; d. Aug. 19, 1790). Among the melodies which were composed for this text that one has remained the most popular which first appeared in Vienna in 1774, in the " Catholic Hymnal." For Luther, the Te Deum was indispensable, since he wished to see matins and vespers preserved, and the Te Deum seemed of special value to him. Prose translations such as Luther found in the earlier hymnals did not satisfy him. He, therefore, translated the hymn into German, and his version first appeared in the " Hymnal " of Klug, 1529, justly supplanting all others, for " the Latin original was completely transformed into a German poem by Luther, both as to the sense and as to the form." The melody is admirably adapted, and the original character and form of the hymn have been reverently preserved. In the congregational music of the Evangelical church, the " Ambrosian hymn," in spite of Luther's masterly rendering, was forced later to yield its place to the hymn of Martin Rinckart (q.v.) " Nun danket alle Gott," as the German Te Deum of the Evangelical church.
The character and contents of the Te Deum and more especially its liturgical use as a psalm of thanksgiving, were determining factors in the transformations to which it has been so often subjected. In this work musical art has, on the one hand, confined itself to increasing the brilliancy and impressiveness of the Gregorian chant by means of a fuller harmony and the use of many voices, or by the addition of instrumental accompaniment, so that the chant was either simply adapted to several voices or was made the foundation of an elaborate polyphonic symphony. On the other hand, the text was treated in an entirely free and independent manner, and the single verses and the imagery presented by them were transformed into well-rounded and connected sentences. In this way the Te Deum was developed into an antiphon on a grand scale, with a varied combination and graduation of solo and choral passages, and was also embellished with all the splendid coloring of modern orchestration, and so it became a magnificent musical solemnization of thanksgiving. In the Greek Church the place of the Te Deum is taken by the hymnos akathistos (i.e., " hymn to be sung standing "), a hymn of thanksgiving for the preservation of city and State from the hands of the Avars (626), addressed to Mary, to whose supplications this preservation was attributed. See Ambeose, Saint, of Milan; Ambrosian Chant. H. A. KosTLiNf. Bibliography: Julian, Hymnology, pp. 1119-1134 (elaborate); W. E. Tentzel, Exercitationes sacra;, Leipsic, 1692 (still referred to); B. Gavantus, Thesaurus sacrorum, ed. C. M. Merati, ii. 147-153, Venice, 1744 (discusses Ambrosian-Augustinian authorship); J. M. Thomasius, Opera, ii. 345 sqq., iii. 614 sqq., Rome, 1747 (gives texts and textual variations); W. Palmer, Origines liturgical, i. 226 sqq., Oxford, 1832; H. A. Daniel, Thesaurus hymnologicus, ii. 276-299, Halle, 1844; W. Maskell, Monumenta ritualia, ii. 12-14, 229-232, London, 1847 (contains early English versions); E. Thompson, A Vindication of the Hymn Te Deum laudamus, London, 1858 (valuable for the versions it gives) ; F. A. March, Latin Hymns, pp. 20-21, 231, New York, 1874 (Latin text and notes);
J. Pothier, Der gregorianische Choral, Tournay, 1881; E. C. S. Gibson, in Church Quarterly Review, xviii (1884), 1-27 (able and learned); E. Challier, Grosser Lieder-Katalog, Giessen, 1886-87; S. Kiimmerle, Encyklopadie der evangelischen Kirchenmusik, 4 vols., Giitersloh, 1886- 1895; J. W. Legg, Some Imitations of the Te Deum, London, 1891; S. A. Blackwood, Te Deum laudamus, London, 1892; G. M. Dreves, in supplement to Stimmen aus Maria Laach, lviii (1893); P. Lejay, Revue critique, 1893, i. 192 sqq.; F. Kattenbusch, Das apostolische Symbol, i. 404 sqq., Leipsic, 1894; G. Morin, Revue benedictine, Feb., 1894 (names Nicetas of Remesiana as author); H. Kretschmar, FiXhrer durch den Konzertsaal, ii. 1, pp. 287— 300, Leipsic, 1895; T. Zahn, in NKZ, v (1896), 106 sqq.; A. E. Burns, Introduction to the Creeds and the Te Deum, London, 1899; idem, Niceta of Remesiana, his Life and Works, Cambridge, 1905; J. Wordsworth, The Te Deum, its Structure, 2d ed., London, 1903; W. A. Merrill, Latin Hymns, pp. 6-7, Boston, 1904 (Latin text); F. Spitta, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. Die Lieder Luthers in ihrer Bedeutung fur die evangelische Kirche, Gottingen, 1905; KL, x. 1282-84; DCA, ii. 1949-51. Much will be found in the literature under Liturgics; and Sequences.