Here, I am publishing a PDF file with ten public domain Catholic church songs from Germany.
The “Gotteslob”
The Church in Germany has generated a lot of negative publicity around the world due to the heresy of many bishops. However, there is one thing where they should be a role model for others: their hymnal. There is a large amount of wonderful classical music coming from Germany.
The Catholic churches of Germany and Austria use a hymnal known as “Gotteslob” (“Divine Worship”). It is made up of two parts: the first one is the same for every diocese and the second one is specific to one diocese or a group of dioceses. The common part contains around 280 songs.
When it comes to copyrighted songs, the Church in Germany has found a way to make it easy for the parishes. They have negotiated with GEMA, a German organization representing musicians, an agreement regarding the playback of songs at church services. The bishops’ conference says: “Congregations are not required to register or pay separate fees for musical works covered by the Church Service Agreement.” The dioceses pay certain amounts to GEMA, which in turn pays the copyright holders. This means that individual parishes do not have to worry about buying the rights to pieces of music separately.
My selection
This file contains ten songs from the Gotteslob, which are so old as to be in the public domain, and have included their scores and lyrics.
I have used the following old German hymnals as sources:
“Psälterlein: katholisches Gebet- und Gesangbuch”, published 1891 with ecclesiastical approbation in Regensburg, uploaded to the Internet Archive
“O Christ hie merk!” by Guido Maria Dreves SJ, published 1885 with ecclesiastical approbation in Freiburg, uploaded by Corpus Christi Watershed