Sämtliche Werke
Edited by Alfred Noe and Hans-Gert Roloff, this volume presents the early poetry of Johann Rist, along with Paul Gerhardt, the most important 17th century German composers of Protestant Church songs. It fills a longstanding gap in the earlier seven-volume edition of Rist’s Complete Works.
The volume includes Rist’s poetry from 1644 to 1646. In “Strong Shield of God,” Rist shows the power against slander and enmity drawn from his faith. “Holstein’s wretched song of complaint and misery” describes the devastations of the Thirty Years War. “Poetic Setting,” his third collection written in 1646, shows Rist primarily as a casual poet and panegyrist – and, by extension, as a historical raconteur.
The volume contains Johann Rist’s genealogical “Paean to Emperor Ferdinand III,” a description of the 1648 natural disaster in northern Germany (“Holstein Will Not Forget”), and the first edition of the passion hymns in “Jesus Christ Led to his Suffering and Death.” In 1647, Rist, after being nominated by Harsdörffer, became a member of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft (“Fruitbearing Society”), where he was known as “der Rüstige,” the lusty.
Johann Rist’s wide-ranging collection The New German Parnassus contains poems and songs for weddings, deaths, coronations, indoctrination ceremonies at the Fruitful Society, birthdays, appointments to office, book publications, the Peace of Westphalia, and some occasional verses from the years 1647 to 1652, along with numerous poems dedicated by friends.
The eleventh volume of Rist’s Complete Works includes a wide-ranging series of unusual occasional writings by the author, who was greatly esteemed by his peers. These include a eulogy and a libretto to the Ballet for the Prince’s Wedding (1653), a letter of congratulations for the birth of a Brandenburg prince, and a play for printer’s assistants, as well as a secular song collection and a panegyric poem on Denmark.
The 12th volume of Rist’s Collected Works contains poems on the deaths of Martin Opitz and Charles I of England along with 80 other poems – for honor, weddings, funerals – and occasional writings that were not included in Rist’s prepared collections or that were completed after the publication of the “New German Parnassus” (1652).
The thirteenth volume of Rist’s Collected Works concludes the edition with information about the author’s family, his education and career, as well as his circle of friends, and his connections to literary societies. The volume contains a bibliographical register, text commentary on volumes I-XII, a complete register of works, and an extensive register of people and places.
