Lyrics
All my heart this night rejoices,
As I hear, far and near,
Sweetest angel voices;
Christ is born, their choirs are singing,
Till the air, everywhere,
Now their joy is ringing.
For it dawns — the promised morrow
Of His birth, who the earth
Rescues from her sorrow.
God to wear our form descendeth;
Of His grace to our race
Here His Son He sendeth.
Yea, so truly for us careth,
That His Son, all we've done,
As our offering beareth;
As our Lamb who, dying for us,
Bears our load, and to God,
Doeth in peace restore us.
Hark! a voice from yonder manger,
Soft and sweet, doth entreat,
Flee from woe and danger;
Brethren, come; from all that grieves you
You are freed; all you need
I will surely give you.
Come, then, let us hasten yonder;
Here let all, great and small,
Kneel in awe and wonder,
Love Him who with love is yearning;
Hail the star that from far
Bright with hope is burning.
Public domain hymn text (German, 1653; English translation 1858), based on Luke 2:11. Presented here in a shortened selection of the original fifteen stanzas.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Paul Gerhardt wrote "Fröhlich soll mein Herze springen" ("All My Heart This Night Rejoices") in fifteen stanzas, first published in 1656 in Johann Crüger's Praxis Pietatis Melica, though the text itself dates to 1653. Gerhardt is widely regarded as the greatest hymn writer of the German Lutheran tradition after Martin Luther himself, and this Christmas hymn is counted among his most beloved, alongside works like "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded."
The tune commonly paired with the text was composed a decade later, in 1666, by Johann Georg Ebeling, who succeeded Crüger as music director at St. Nicholas Church in Berlin, where Gerhardt served as a deacon for a time. English readers encountered the hymn through Catherine Winkworth's translation, published in 1858 in the second series of her Lyra Germanica — the same Winkworth whose translations brought numerous German chorales, including Gerhardt's "Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light" companion piece by Johann Rist featured elsewhere in this collection, into English-language hymnody.
The full fifteen-stanza original moves well beyond simple description of the nativity scene, extending into an extended, direct address from Christ to the singer — "brethren, come; from all that grieves you, you are freed" — and a closing plea to be kept near Him always. The selection presented here draws on the stanzas most consistently retained across hymnal editions, following the same practice of abridgment common to many of Gerhardt's longer chorale texts.
Gerhardt's own life was marked by considerable hardship — he lived through much of the Thirty Years' War and later lost his position in a dispute over Lutheran doctrinal conformity — yet his hymns, this one especially, are consistently noted for their unclouded, confident joy, a quality that has kept "All My Heart This Night Rejoices" in continuous use at Christmas for well over three and a half centuries.
