“Herzlich tut mich verlangen” (I do desire dearly) is a German hymn, with lyrics written in 1611 by Christoph Knoll, containing 11 stanzas, with a melody adapted from a secular song by Hans Leo Hassler.
It is a prayer for a blessed death, beginning “Herzlich tut mich verlangen nach einem sel’gen End” (I do desire dearly a blessed end).
Knoll wrote the “geistliches Sterbelied” (spiritual song for the dying) “Herzlich thut mich verlangen nach einem selgen End” (I desire dearly a blessed end) during the plague of 1599. It became known already during his lifetime. It appeared in Görlitz in 1613 in the hymnal Harmoniae sacrae.
Much later, in the 1800’s, Johannes Brahms adapted this music, and here is a duo piano version of this music:
