Kristofa Fīrekera dziesmas 1672. gada latviešu luterāņu dziesmu grāmatā

The corpus of texts designated as 64 with the initials C.F., the first known publication of Latvian Lutheran songs by Christoph Fürecker, cannot be considered a beginner’s effort. It reveals the talent of a 17th-century hymn writer in its maturity and versatility. The Latvian Lutheran song book of 1672 contains a selection of Füreckers’ songs, which includes the majority of the texts that earned him designations such as ‘latviešu dzejnieku ciltstēvs’ (Berelis 1999: 15) or “the patriarch of Latvian poets”. Outside this anthology remain, for example, the first Christian Lutheran lullaby, Bērniņ mīļais, Dieva stādīts (Dear Child, Planted by God), as well as the excellent translation of Luther’s Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress Is Our God) into Dievs Kungs ir mūsu stipra pils (God the Lord Is Our Strong Fortress). Both would later enter the landscape of Latvian spiritual songs in published form in 1685.