De taal van een smekeling. Over het lied ‘Een smekeling, zo kom ik tot uw troon’

Abstract

In this article, “The language of a supplicant”, the author tries to discover the true language of a communal song. Is it not true that, in addition to the text, especially its melody and to a lesser degree also the rhythm, the pitch and the dynamics of the melody, are elements of this language? And to what extent is this language influenced by other texts (contrafacts), with which the melody has been co-existing for some time? These questions are discussed from the example of a very well known Dutch song: Een smekeling zo kom ik tot uw troon (“A supplicant, thus I approach your throne”). The melody is by Bernard Huijbers, the text by Jan Wit. Nearly all contrafacts are from Huub Oosterhuis.