Präludium und Fuge G-Dur "Geh aus mein Herz"

Today we have excellent spring weather!
What could be more natural than to present a beautiful summer song as the theme for another expansive composition of mine?

You can find the following information about this chorale:
Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud is a sacred summer song by Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676).

The poem was first published in 1653 in the fifth edition of Johann Crüger's hymnal Praxis Pietatis Melica.

The expansive song text, which in Paul Gerhardt's original version comprises 15 stanzas, is artfully structured: The first stanza begins with the address to a counterpart, here referred to as "my heart" (at that time the address to a loved one), and invites this to go out to contemplate summer nature and admire its beauty. That there are two different roles, a speaker and an object of address, becomes clear in 1:5 in the words: "behold / how they have adorned themselves to me and to thee". Stanzas 2-7 describe God's creation in its earthly beauty, first the plant world and the animals in the wild (stanzas 2 and 3-4), then man comes in, living off the gifts of nature, sheep and bees, wine and wheat (stanzas 5-7). In stanza 8, exactly in the middle of the poem, the lyrical I, here probably the poet in his own name, speaks of himself: He "selbsten kan und mag nicht ruhn", because "des grossen Gottes grosses thun" "awakens" all his senses, thus leading him beyond the praise of creation to the holistic ("all senses") praise of God.

The second part is no longer about the garden in the literal sense, but - analogous to the old doctrine of the fourfold sense of Scripture - first about the surpassing beauty of the heavenly garden (stanzas 9-11: anagogical sense), then about the task that arises in this life, namely to praise God and to bring forth "fruits of faith" (stanzas 12-14: moral sense).Images from nature become metaphors when God is asked to help "that I may become a good tree for you" or "that I may remain a beautiful flower and plant in your garden.