Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr

" (Alone to God in the highest be glory) is an early Lutheran hymn, with text and melody attributed to Nikolaus Decius. With the reformers intending church service in German, it was intended as a German version of the Gloria part of the Latin mass, used in almost every service. Decius wrote three stanzas, probably in 1523, while a fourth was added, probably by Joachim Slüter.
" is included in many German hymnals, including the current Protestant hymnal "Evangelisches Gesangbuch" and (in three stanzas) in the Catholic hymnal "Gotteslob". Catherine Winkworth translated it to "All glory be to God on high".
History.
With the Reformation, the traditional Latin of Christian church services was changed to German. "" is a paraphrase of the Latin Gloria from the mass liturgy. The oldest prints of the hymn do not mention an author, but it is believed that it was written in Low German by Nikolaus Decius in 1523, which makes it one of the earliest songs of the Reformation. The melody, Zahn No. 4457, is adapted from the Gloria of the mass for Easter in Gregorian chant, "Lux et origo" (GL 114).
Early publications.
"Aleyne God yn der Höge sy eere" is the first Low German version of the later "" published in 's "Geystlyke leder" (Rostock, 1531). The first print in High German appeared in a hymnal by Valentin Schumann in Leipzig in 1539. Text and melody of the hymn were published together for the first time in 's "Kirchengesenge Deudtsch" (Magdeburg 1545).
Authorship.
In 17th-century Leipzig hymnals the German text of "" was attributed to Nikolaus Selnecker. In his church history of Braunschweig, published in five volumes between 1707 and 1720, refers to a Latin document from 1600, which named Decius as the author of text and melody of both " and ". The creation of hymns by Decius is dated 1522/23, before the first publications of hymns by Martin Luther (1524): thus these hymns belong to the earliest of the Reformation.
Text and translation.
"" is in four stanzas of seven lines each. The following text is taken from the Protestant hymnal "Evangelisches Gesangbuch" which has the hymn as EG 179. The Catholic hymnal "Gotteslob" has only the first three stanzas, as GL 170, and a slight change in the rhythm. Both hymnals note 1523 as the year of writing. Catherine Winkworth translated the hymn to "All glory be to God on high, who hath our race befriended", which appears in 95 hymnals.
Hymn tune and musical settings.
&lt;score sound="1"&gt;
\new Staff { \clef treble \time 4/4 \partial 4 \key g \major \set Staff.midiInstrument = "church organ" \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \override Score.BarNumber #'transparent = ##t
 \relative c" \repeat unfold 2 { « { g8 a | b4 c d c | b a b\fermata 
 b | b a8 b c b a4 | g8 e fis4 g\fermata \bar "||" \break } \\ 
 { d4 | g g fis e8 fis | g fis8 e4 dis 
 e | d!8 e fis4 g4. fis8 | g4 d d } 
 \relative c"
 « { g4 | a b c b | a8. b16 b4\trill a\fermata
 a | b c d c | b a b\fermata
 g | a b c8 b a4 | g8 e fis4 g\fermata \bar"|." } \\
 { d8 e | fis4 gis a8[ a,] d e | a, a'4 gis8 e4 
 d | d g! fis8 gis a4 | g!8 fis e4 dis
 b8 cis | d! e fis4 e4. d16 c! | g'4 d d } »
\new Lyrics \lyricmode {
Al4 -- lein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr
und Dank für sei -- ne Gna2 -- de4
da4 -- rum, dass nun und nim -- mer -- mehr
uns rüh -- ren kann kein Scha2 -- de.4
Ein4 Wohl -- ge -- falln Gott an uns hat,
nun ist gross Fried ohn Un -- ter -- lass,
all Fehd hat nun ein En2 -- de
\new Staff { \clef bass \key g \major \set Staff.midiInstrument = "church organ"
 \relative c' \repeat unfold 2 { « { b8 c | d4 e8[ g,] a[ b] c[ d] | e b c4 fis,
 g8 a | b c d4 e4. d16 c | d8 c16 b a4 b } \\ 
 { g,4 | g'8 fis e4 d a | e'8 d c4 b 
 e8 fis | g4 fis e8[ d] c[ a] | b c d4 g, } 
 \relative c'
 « { b4 | a d e8[ f] f e | e16[ d e8] f e16 d c4
 a | g g8 a b4 e, | e'8 b c4 fis,
 g | fis b8 a g4. fis8 | d'8 c16 b a4 b } \\
 { g4 | d8[ d'] c b a4 g | f8[ c] d e a,4
 fis'4 | g8 fis e4 b c8 d | e d c4 b
 e | d dis e8[ d] c a | b c d4 g, } »
» »
&lt;/score&gt;
Organ settings.
As a hymn usually sung every Sunday, "" was often the basis for chorale preludes. Among those by Johann Sebastian Bach there are three in "Clavier-Übung III" (BWV 675, BWV 676 and BWV 677), and three others in the "Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes" (BWV 662, BWV 663 and BWV 664), and BWV 711 in "Kirnberger Chorale Preludes". Other composers from the 18th century or earlier set the hymn tune for organ including Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Georg Böhm, Christian Geist, Johann Peter Kellner and Melchior Schildt.
Max Reger composed two chorale preludes, the first of his 52 chorale preludes, Op. 67 in 1902, and No. 2 of his 30 small chorale preludes, Op. 135a, in 1914. Charles Tomlinson Griffes wrote an organ piece in 1910. Sigfrid Karg-Elert included a setting as No. 23 of his "66 Chorale improvisations for organ", published in 1909. Ernst Pepping used it for the Gloria of his "Deutsche Choralmesse", a six-part setting of 1928. Contemporary organ settings were written by Aivars Kalējs, among others.
Vocal settings.
Bach set the hymn as a four-part chorale, (BWV 260). In his extant cantatas, the melody appears in association with , for Ascension, and for , a paraphrase of Psalm 23 by Wolfgang Meuslin, printed in 1530.
Felix Mendelssohn included a setting of the hymn in his oratorio "Paulus", as No. 3, the first chorale, following the overture and a chorus.