“ Gerhardt is the greatest hymn-writer of Germany, if not indeed of Europe. Many of his best-known hymns were originally published in various church hymn-books, as for example in that for Brandenburg, which appeared in 1658; others first saw the light in Johann Crüger’s Geistliche Kirchenmelodien (1649) and Praxis pietatis melica (1656) . The first complete set of them is the Geistliche Andachten, published in 1666–1667 by Ebeling, music director in Berlin. No hymn by Gerhardt of a later date than 1667 is known to exist. ”

“ The life of Gerhardt has been written by Roth (1829) , by Langbecker (1841) , by Schultz (1842) , by Wildenhahn (1845) and by Bachmann (1863) ; also by Kraft in Ersch u. Gruber’s Allg. Encycl. (1855) . The best modern edition of the hymns, published by Wackernagel in 1843, has often been reprinted. ”