"Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig" (Ah how fleeting, ah how insubstantial) is a German
Lutheran hymn with lyrics by
Michael Franck, who published it with his own melody and a four-part setting in 1652.
Johann Crüger's reworked version of the hymn tune was published in 1661. Several Baroque composers used the hymn, including
Johann Sebastian Bach, who wrote a
chorale cantata. It is part of the current
Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch, and has also been used by 20th-century composers such as
Ernst Pepping and
Mauricio Kagel.
History
The lyrics of the hymn were written by
Michael Franck after the
Thirty Years' War. Franck, who initially worked as a baker, before turning to teaching, poetry, and music, based it on the biblical "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." (
Ecclesiastes 1:2). His models were
vanity poems by
Andreas Gryphius, namely "Die Herrlichkeit der Erden / Muß Rauch und Aschen werden" ("The Splendour of the Earth / Will end in smoke and ashes"). He published it in Coburg in 1652, with his melody and a four-part setting. The title referred to "Vanity, Falsehood and Transitoriness of the World" ("Die Eitelkeit / Falschheit und Unbeständigkeit der WELT und Flüchtigkeit der Irrdischen Gütter / Hergegen Das rechte standhaffte GUT der Himmlischen Gemüther").[1][2] The hymn was the topic of sermons (Liedpredigten).[1]
The hymn originally consisted of 13
stanzas of five lines each. All odd stanzas begin with "Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig" ("Oh how fleeting, oh how vain"), and all even stanzas begin "Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig" ("Oh how vain, oh how fleeting"). The second line specifies what is fleeting, which is expanded by lines three to five, all of which rhyme. Eight of the stanzas are included in the current Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch as EG 528.[3]
Melodies and settings
Franck's original hymn tune,
Zahn No. 1887a, was published together with the hymn text in 1652. According to Franck's preface of that publication, the hymn, text as well as melody, had already been printed before.
Johann Crüger published his reworked version of the melody, Zahn No. 1887b, in the 1661 edition of his hymnal Praxis pietatis melica. Other tunes for the hymn were composed by
Andreas Hammerschmidt (Zahn No. 1888, published 1658) and
Peter Sohren [
de] (Zahn No. 1889, published 1668).[1][4][5]