Transcription of biographical note in Julian, p.395b
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Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, s. of Dietrich F., merchant and burgomaster at Gandersheim, Brunswick, was born at Gandersheim, 2nd Dec. 1670. He entered the University of Jena at Easter, 1689. Attracted by the preaching of A.H.Franke and J.J.Breithaupt, he removed to Erfurt in 1691, and at Easter, 1692, followed them to Halle. About the end of 1693 he returned to Gandersheim, and employed himself as a private tutor. In 1695 he went to Glaucha as assistant to Franke; and when Franke became pastor of St Ulrich's, in Halle, 1715, F. became his colleague, and in the same year married his only daughter. In 1723 he became also sub-director of the Paedagogium and the Orphanage; and after Franke's death in 1727, succeeded him as pastor of St Ulrich's and director of the Franke Institutions. Under his fostering care these Institutions attained their highest development. From a stroke of paralysis in 1728, and a second in 1730, he recovered in great measure, but a third in 1737 crippled his right side, while the last, in November 1738, left him almost helpless. He died on 12th February, 1739, and was buried beside Franke. (refs: Koch; Allg.Deutsche Biog.; Bode; Grote.)
Almost all F.'s hymns appeared in his own hymn-book, which was the standard collection of the Halle school, uniting the best productions of Pietism with a good representation of the older "classical" hymns. This work, which greatly influenced later collections, and was the source from which many editors drew not only the hymns of Pietism, but also the current forms of the earlier hymns (as well as the new "Halle" melodies, a number of which are ascribed to F. himself) appeared in two parts, viz.:--
i. Geist-reiches Gesang-Bugh, den Kern alter und neuer Lieder . . . in sich haltend, &c., Halle. Gedruckt und verlegt im Waysen-Hause, 1704 (Hanburg), with 683 hymns and 173 melodies. To the 2nd edition, 1705 [Rostock University], an Appendix was added with Hys 684-758, and 21 melodies. Editions 3-18 are practically the same so far as the hymns are concerned, save that in ed. 11, 1719 [Berlin], and later issues, four hymns, written by J.J.Rambach at F.'s request, replaces four of those in eds 1-10.
ii. Neues Geist-reiches Gesang-Buch, &c., Halle . . . 1714 [Berlin], with 815 hymns and 154 melodies. In the 2nd ed., 1719 [Rostock University], Hys. 816-818, with one melody, were added.
In 1741 these two parts were combined by G.A.Franke, seven hymns being added, all but one taken from the 1st ed., 1718, of the so-called Auszug, which was compiled for congregational use mainly from the original two parts; and this reached a second, and last, ed. in 1771. So far as the melodies are concerned, the ed. of 1771 is the most complete, containing some 600 to 1582 hymns. (Further details of these editions in the Blätter für Hymnologie, 1883, pp.44-46, 106-109; 1885, pp. 13-14.) A little volume of notes on the hymns and hymn-writers of the 1771 edition, compiled by J.H.Grischow and completed by J.G.Kirchner, and occasionally referred to in these pages, appeared as Kurzegefasster Nachricht von ältern und neuern Liederverfassen at Halle, 1771.
As a hymn-writer F. ranks not only as the best of the Pietistic school, but as the first among his contemporaries. His finest productions are distinguished by a sound and robust piety, warmth of feeling, depth of Christian experience, scripturalness, clearness and variety of style, which gained for them wide acceptance, and have kept them still in popular use. A complete ed. of his 44 hymns, with a biographical introduction by Ludwig Grote, appeared as his Geistliche Lieder, at Halle, 1855. A number of them, including No. v., are said to have been written during severe attacks of toothache.
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