Johann Daniel Falk

Johann Daniel Falk
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Short Name: Johann Daniel Falk
Full Name: Falk, Johann Daniel, 1768-1826
Birth Year: 1768
Death Year: 1826

Falk, Johannes Daniel, was born Oct. 28, 1768, at Danzig, where his father was a wig-maker. With a stipend from the Town Council of Danzig, he entered the University of Halle in 1791, where he studied the classics and theology, remaining as a private tutor for some time after completing his course. In 1798 he married and settled as a man of letters at Weimar, where he was welcomed by Herder, Goethe and Wieland, and where he gained some reputation as a writer of satirical works. During the Napoleonic wars, after the battle of Jena, 1806, Falk found his true vocation as a philanthropist, first in the field hospitals and then in the care of destitute children. With the court preacher Horn he founded the "Society of Friends in Need," and shortly thereafter began his Refuge for poor children; receiving them without restrictions as to age, birth, country or creed, and after giving them a godly industrial training sought to find the girls places as domestic servants and to apprentice the boys to trade. He lived to see the Refuge in permanent buildings (which in 1829 were made into a public training school for neglected children, under the name of Falk's Institute) and saw some 300 of his scholars fairly started in life. He died at Weimar, Feb. 14, 1826 (Kraus, pp. 120-125; Allg. Deutsche Biographie, vi. 549-551).

His hymns are few in number, but one has attained considerable popularity:—
0 du fröhliche. [For the Great Festivals.] Written in 1816, and included in his Auserlesene Werke, Leipzig, 1819, vol. i. p. 357, in 3 stanzas of 6 lines, entitled "Hymn for all the Three Festivals." Stanzas i. is for Christmas, ii. for Easter, iii. for Whitsuntide. This form is No. 667 in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, but being easy of expansion we find in the Speier Gesang-Buch 1859, No. 247, two other stanzas for each season added — in all 9 stanzas. The only translation in common use is:—
Hail, thou glorious, thou victorious. A free version by Dr. Kennedy of Falk's three stanzas, with original stanzas for Sunday and for the Second Advent, in his Hymnologia Christiana, 1863. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Wikipedia Biography

Johannes Daniel Falk (28 October 1768 Danzig – 14 February 1826 Weimar) was a German publisher and poet. Falk was born in Danzig (Gdańsk) in the Polish province of Royal Prussia, where he received his first education against the wishes of his father, who wanted to employ the child in his business as wig maker. The Danzig city council granted Falk a theology stipendium at Halle, but he did not become a preacher and frequented literary circles of Schiller and Goethe instead.

Texts by Johann Daniel Falk (27)sort descendingAsAuthority LanguagesInstances
Ahaa paveešeeva, voešetanoJohann Daniel Falk (Based on)Cheyenne2
¡Canta, alegre grey! Johannes Daniel Falk, 1768-1826 (Author)Spanish2
Earth is lost in darkest nightJohannes David Falk (Author)2
Gloria, canto, honor, Al ConsoladorJohannes Daniel Falk, 1768-1826 (Author)Spanish2
How the wind in fury blindJ. D. Falk (Author)2
Mawimbi yanavumaJohann Daniel Falk (Author)Swahili2
O blogosławiony, Radością natchnionyJohannes Daniel Falk (Author (st. 1))German, Polish, Swedish2
O du fröhliche and selige PfingstenzeitJ. D. Falk (Author)German1
O du fröhliche, o du seligeJ. D. Falk (Author)German72
O du härliga, o du saliga, Nådebringande pingesttid!Johannes David Falk (Author)Swedish2
O du härliga, o du saliga, Nådebringande påskatidJohannes David Falk (Author)English2
O du saliga, O du heligaJohannes David Falk (Author)Swedish3
O heart brightener! sorrow lightener!Johannes David Falk (Author)English1
O how joyfully, O how hopefullyJohann D. Falk (Author)English4
O most joyful, O most blissfulJohannes David Falk (Author)2
O thou holiest, O thou happiestJohannes David Falk (Author)English2
O thou joyful day, O thou blessed dayJohannes David Falk (Author)9
O thou joyful, O thou wonderfulJ. Falk (Author)English14
O thou joyful time, Blessed Christmas-timeJohannes Daniel Falk (Author (st. 1))English2
O thou joyous day, O thou holy dayJohannes David Falk (Author)2
O how joyfully, O how merrilyJ. Falk (Author)English3
Oh, santísimo, FelicísimoJohannes D. Falk (Author)Spanish18
Siku ya furaha, siku ya uzimaJ. D. Falk (Author)Swahili4
Was kann schöner sein, was kann edler seinJoh. Falk, 1768-1826 (Author)German5
When the waves are tossing highJohannes David Falk (Author)English3
Wie mit grimm'gem UnverstandJohannes D. Falk, 1768-182 (Author)German19
Wie muss man so betrübt die Tage bringenJohannes David Falk (Author)German2

Data Sources

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