Johann Franck

Johann Fran(c)k (1 June 1618 – 18 June 1677) was a German politician (serving as mayor of Guben and a member of the Landtag of Lower Lusatia) and a lyric poet and hymnist.

Franck was born in Guben, Margraviate of Lower Lusatia.^[1] After visiting the Latin school in Guben, he attended schools in Cottbus and Stettin, as well as the gymnasium in Thorn (Toruń).^[2] After studying law at the University of Königsberg, he became a councilor in his native town, later becoming its mayor and a member of the Landtag of Lower Lusatia.^[3] He died in Guben.^[3]

Under the influence of the Silesian School and of Simon Dach of Königsberg, he produced a series of poems and hymns, collected and edited by himself in two volumes (Guben, 1674), entitled: Teutsche Gedichte, enthaltend geistliches Zion samt Vaterunserharfe nebst irdischem Helicon oder Lob-, Lieb-, Leidgedichte, etc.. His secular poems are forgotten; about forty of his religious songs, hymns, and psalms have been kept in the hymals of the German Protestant Church. Some of these are the hymn for Communion "Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele" ("Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness"), the Advent hymn Komm, Heidenheiland, Lösegeld (Come, Ransom of our captive race, a translation into German of Veni redemptor gentium), and a hymn to Jesus, "Jesu, meine Freude"^[3] ('Jesus, My Joy'), which is best known as being the basis of Bach's funeral motet Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227. His hymn "Du, o schönes Weltgebäude"^[4] (You, o beautiful building of the world), with a melody by Crüger is no longer in practical use, but one stanza, "Komm, o Tod, du Schlafes Bruder" (Come, O death, to sleep a brother), was prominently used in Bach's solo cantata Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56.^[5][6]

The music for his hymns by the Guben organist Christoph Peter appeared first in the Andachtscymbeln, the oldest Guben hymn book, in 1648. In honor of Franck, a simple monument has been erected at the south wall of the Guben parish church.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication in the public domain: Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. (1914). "Johann Franck (Frank)". New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.
• Jentsch, Hugo (1877), "Franck, Johann (Dichter)", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 7, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 211–212
• Lorenzen, Käte (1961), "Franck (Frank), Johann", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 5, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 317–317; (full text online)
• Marshall, Traute Maass (2001). "Franck [Frank, Franke], Johann". Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.10123.

• Storz, Pastor Harald (18 November 2008). "Predigt über "Jesu, meine Freude"". Der Predigtpreis (in German). Retrieved 9 May 2022.
• Rundschau, Lausitzer (18 May 2018). "Erinnerung: Gedenktafel für Johann Franck geplant". lr-online.de (in German). Retrieved 9 May 2022.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Johann Franck.

• Johann Franck bach-cantatas.com
• "Composers and Poets". Deutsches Lied (in German). Retrieved 9 May 2022.