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PASSION CHORALE
The hymn tune PASSION CHORALE was originally set to a love song, "Mein Gmuth ist mir verwiret" ("My heart is distracted by a gentle maid"), in Hans Leo Hassler's Lustgarten Neuer Deutscher Gesang, 1601.
PASSION CHORALE first appeared as a hymn tune in the third edition of Harmoniae Sacrae (Gorlitz, 1613), set to "Herzlich Tut Mich Verlangen." In 1656, Paul Gerhardt set the tune to a German translation of "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" for the first time. This arrangement was published in Cruger's Praxis Pietatis Melica, 1656, and has been associated with the German and English translations ever since.
J. S. Bach used the PASSION CHORALE melody extensively in his work, including it five times in St. Matthew's Passion, twice in the Christmas Oratorio, and also using it in five cantatas and an organ setting of his Miscellaneous Preludes. Johannes Brahms also used organ settings this tune among his eleven chorale preludes.
An interesting note on this tune, it is said that Frederick William I, King of Prussia, requested in his will that a band play PASSION CHORALE at his funeral.