Svendsen, Johan

Guds Fred

(Guds Fred (Digt af B.S. Ingemann))

God’s Peace

JSV 26

God’s Peace is an original composition and the melody is Svendsen’s own. The text ‘Lyksalig, lyksalig’ (Blissful, blissful) was written by the Danish hymnodist Bernhard Severin Ingemann (1789–1862) and published in his collection of psalms for high mass. It consists of eleven verses, and in his setting for men’s choir, Svendsen incorporated all of these into an overall ABA form. The outer sections are in A-flat major, while the middle section is in E major. The only source for this work is an autograph manuscript kept at the Danish Music Museum in Copenhagen. It is dated 10 February 1863 while Svendsen was living in Lübeck, Germany.

Composition: 10 Feb. 1863.

Lübeck

Andante religiosos sostenuto

Key: A♭ major

Extent: ca. 3:30 min.