This hymn-based Art Song cycle started around May 2017 with the request by Dr. Jan Beukes and Albertus Engelbrecht, faculty members of the Odeion School of Music, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa for an Art Song for Tenor and Organ. I wrote the Afrikaans Art Song “Verdwyn is nou die daglig”, which was premiered by the two artists in Bloemfontein in September. They subsequently asked whether this could be expanded into an Art Song cycle based on chorales. This I undertook and completed the cycle in December. In this I could partly re-use and adapt some of my earlier chorale preludes. The cycle consists of six Art Songs based on songs and hymns from the British Isles and Germany: Three texts are in English (Be Thou my Vision, Joy to the world, and The King of love my shepherd is), one in Latin/German ( In dulci jubilo) and two in Afrikaans (Net soos ‘n hert and Verdwyn is nou die daglig). I created the two texts in Afrikaans (my mother tongue) based on the hymn tunes Ó Waly, Waly and Der Mond ist aufgegangen. My decision to create and include two new Afrikaans texts in the cycle was motivated by my admiration for the Afrikaans language (my mother tongue, presently under some pressure in South Africa, viewed as the “language of oppression” during the Apartheid era). For the non-English texts in the collection a free English translation is provided. Net soos ‘n hert is a paraphrase of Ps. 42 on the lovely Scottish folk song melody“O Waly Waly” (which has also served for the English song “The water is wide”) and reflects the changing moods of the Psalm. Three of the originally four verses of the Lutheran hymn In dulci jubilo are used: Verse one is in chorale style; verse 2, a reflective, embellished setting; verse 3, celebrative. Joy to the world is a festive, fanfare-like rendition of the carol. The King of love is a pastorale setting of verse 1, followed by a more serene setting of verse 2 “Where streams of living waters flow”. Be Thou my vision uses four of the five original verses of this beautiful Irish hymn: Verse one , a chorale; verse 2, a more reflective setting; verse 3, a more aggressive rendition of “Be thou my battle shield”; verse 4, a more fanfare –like setting of “High King of Heaven”. The final song, Verdwyn is nou die daglig, is based on the well-known Lutheran Vesper Hymn Der Mond ist aufgegangen (text by Matthias Claudius, 1779; Hymn tune by Johann Peter Schulz, 1790). This beautiful Evensong chorale also formed the basis for my organ chorale prelude (hymn and two variations) of 1993, with the last variation a kind of Nocturne inspired by the classic of this genre, Frederic Chopin. The original German text contemplates the physical beauty and mysterious elements of the night, the limited human understanding of God’s creation and end with a prayer for God’s blessing and guidance, i.e. for rest and for the eventual transition into God’s heavenly repose. The existing Afrikaans text translation by Izak de Villiers in the Afrikaanse Gesangboek (Hymn 348, 1978) and Liedboek van die Kerk, (Hymn 561, 2001) is beautiful and moving. However, for the purpose of this art song – a varied stanzaic one – the two stanzas written by De Villiers were not long enough. I decided to write a completely new Afrikaans text for this vesper hymn with four stanzas. This provided the opportunity for a contrasting character variation (Stanza 3), as well as an integral fusion of imagery and music. I could make use of my chorale prelude of 1993 to some degree, but with musical adjustments: Transposition for the sake of the voice compass of a lyric tenor, textural adjustments, adding introductions to Stanza 1and 2 and bringing new nuances in the phrasing of the melody for the sake of the text (Stanza 4). Completely new is Stanza 3 in terms of text and music. A free English summary of the Afrikaans text is provided with each stanza. My sincere thanks to Dr. Diederick Basson, Stellenbosch South Africa, for the digital transcription of the manuscript. Jacobus Kloppers, Edmonton AB, December 2017/2019