Some tunes in the hymnal just seem to ache for their original languages. I think "O Lord, How Shall I Meet Thee?" might be one of them. Of course, singing it in German, for those of us who speak only English, means losing the understanding of the text. So, obviously, singing it in translation is the best we can do. Translating is always a trade off, in original meaning and in sense, and in the mating of the text to the words. It's a shame, but there it is.
I see the same effect when people try to chant the Psalms in English with Gregorian chant melodies. Those melodies were made for Latin. If you'd like to chant the Psalms in English, well, the Anglicans have written stacks and stacks of hymnals full of lovely chant settings that are written for the cadance and character of English.
The first two verses, in German -
1. Wie soll ich dich empfangen?
O meiner Seele Zier!
O Jesu, Jesu, setze
Mir selbst die Fackel bei,
Damit, was dich ergötze,
Mir kund und wissend sei.
2. Dein Zion streut dir Palmen,
Und grüne Zweige hin;
Und ich will dir in Psalmen
Ermuntern meinen Sinn.
Mein Herze soll dir grünen
In stetem Lob und Preis,
Und deinem Namen dienen,
So gut es kann und weiß.
And those sung, to the Crüger tune. (The quality of the recording is poor after the first verse, but that gives you a taste of the tune, if you're not familiar with it.)
Here's another example, by the way: Now Thank We All Our God, in German and in English. Nobody would say that the English sounds bad, but the German cadence just fits the music better. Or at least, I think it does.
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