| Abstract [eng] |
The subject of the dissertation is the history of the hymn books and hymns of the first half of 19th century Fellowship Movement in Lithuania Minor in textual and linguistic approach. The sources of the research are the hymn books „Visokios naujos giesmės arba evangeliški Psalmai“ (1817) and „Mažos giesmių knygelės“ (1819), supposedly composed by Kristijonas Endrikis Mertikaitis. For the first time, the detailed analysis of the structure, language and sources of the hymn books and their parts, the overview of the 19th century German hymn books from Königsberg, and the explanation of the role of Halle Pietism in composing the repertoire of the German and Lithuanian hymn books are provided in this dissertation. The examination of Lithuanian hymn books has led to the following conclusions: when composing the hymn book „Visokios naujos giesmės arba evangeliški Psalmai“ for the needs of Fellowship Movement, Mertikaitis essentially followed the official line for the formation of church hymn books. The portion of translated and original songs (52 in total) is simply taken from Lithuanian sources. The hymnal „Visokios naujos giesmės arba evangeliški Psalmai“ have to be divided linguistically into two groups - the hymns for laity and the hymns for clergy. Linguistic research confirmed the presumption of historians that hymn book „Mažos giesmių knygelės“ is composed by the same person, i. e. Mertikaitis. It was established that German sources of the hymn books are the hymn book „Kern Alter und Neuer geiſtreicher Lieder, Als der Ʒweyte Theil“ (1752) by Franz Albert Schultz, professor of divinity at the University of Königsberg, and the hymn book „Sämtliche Neue Lieder oder Evangelische Psalmen“ (1768) composed by Ernst Gottlieb Woltersdorf, Halle Pietist of younger generation. The hymns of radical Pietist Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf were not of high importance and influence on the repertoire of hymn books by Mertikaitis. |
