We plough the fields and scatter

I've been intending to write this post for a few weeks now, and it's a bit late for Harvest, but having had it on my mind, I thought I'd write it up anyway.  Actually, in some parts of the British Isles, the harvest won't be completed gathered in until the end of this week.  I always remember my grandmother, who lived in rural Suffolk, saying that it was strange to be holding a harvest festival in late September or early October, singing "all is safely gathered in" (from Come, ye thankful people, come), when the harvest of the main local crop, sugar beet, didn't start until the beginning of October, and lasted until the end of the month!

I've been singing this hymn since I was a child, but it's only now that I've learned that this favourite of British harvest festivals was originally a German poem called Im Anfang war's auf Erden, which was published in 1782.  The poem was written seven years previously, by Matthias Claudius (1740-1815), a journalist who also wrote and published poems.  Claudius' father was a pastor, and he was brought up in the  Lutheran church.  As a young man, he rejected his faith, but in 1777, he suffered a severe illness, and realised that his life was spiritually empty.  John Julian writes that "he once more became in faith as a little child."  While he was ill, he occupied himself by writing some poems.  In 1782, he was invited to a party, and asked to bring one of his poems to read aloud.  Im Anfang war's auf Erden, based on Psalm 144, was the poem he chose.  His poems were popular, because they were written in simple German, which appealed to ordinary people.

Claudius' original poem was in stanzas of four lines, with a chorus between each.  It was published in volume 4 of Claudius' collected works, Asmus omnia sua secum portans; oder sämmtliche Werke des Wandsbecker Bothen (Asmus was Claudius' penname).  It appears as part of a 'sketch' called Paul Erdmanns Fest, which describes a rural harvest festival attended by both gentlemen and farm workers.  The poem Im Anfang war's auf Erden is a peasants' song, sung by the farm workers in the sketch, with the verses sung by a soloist, and all the farm workers joining in the chorus.  These are the original words.  After the first 13 verses, there's a bit of dialogue (in square brackets), which basically says, "My Lord, we've added something for today.  May we sing that as, well?" with the reply, "Why not?"  The last few verses are then praising God for his goodness to their host, Paul Erdmann.  

The hymn as we know it in English has three verses of eight lines, as does the German hymn as it is sung today.  In both English and German, the hymn is usually set to a tune written especially for it: Wir pflügen by Johann Abraham Peter Schulz (1747-1800).  The first verse of the German hymn consists of verse 3 of Claudius' poem (Wir pflügen . . .), followed by verse 5 (Der sendet . . .); the second verse is verse 7 (Was nah ist . . ) followed by verse 8 (Von ihm sind . . .); with the third verse continuing with verses 9 and 10 of the original.  Words have been slightly altered in places.

Wir pflügen und wir streuen was translated into English as We plough the fields and scatter by Jane Montgomery Campbell (1817-1878).  Miss Campbell was a gifted linguist and a German scholar.  She did not attempt to translate the hymn literally, but she did keep the theme of thanksgiving for the harvest.  Her first verse is quite close in meaning to the first verse of the German hymn, although the lines aren't in exactly the same order.  The beginning of her second verse is very similar in meaning to the beginning of verse 2 of the German hymn, but the translation becomes freer, and the final line is close in meaning to the final line of verse 3 in the German.  Miss Campbell's final verse bears very little direct relation in meaning to any of the German verses.  According to The Conservative Woman, she taught the English version of the hymn to children at the Church of England parish school where her father was the Rector, before it was first published in 1861 in A Garland of Songs; or an English Liederkranz by Revd Charles Sandford Bere.

When I was at secondary school, our school did a big production of the musical Godspell, which includes a version of this hymn, set to a tune written for the musical, and omitting the second verse.  You can hear that version here.

There's a Songs of Praise recording of the hymn sung to the traditional tune here.

We plough the fields, and scatter
the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered
by God's almighty hand:
he sends the snow in winter,
the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes, and the sunshine,
and soft, refreshing rain.

All good gifts around us
are sent from heaven above;
then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord,
for all his love.

He only is the maker
of all things near and far;
he paints the wayside flower,
he lights the evening star;
the winds and waves obey him,
by him the birds are fed;
much more to us, his children,
he gives our daily bread.

We thank thee then, O Father,
for all things bright and good,
the seed-time and the harvest,
our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we offer
for all thy love imparts,
and, what thou most desirest,
our humble, thankful hearts.

References
St Martin's Methodist Church, Woolston  
Griggs 
John Julian 
Wikipedia entries: Matthias Claudius, We plough the fields and scatter, and Wir pflügen und wir streuen 
The LiederNet Archive for the original German words
The Conservative Woman