The task and aim of this project is a critical edition of all melodies of German-language hymns from printed sources. The number of sources to be considered up to the year 1640 alone is - compared to editions of works by individual composers - uniquely extensive, with more than 2,400 printed sources. Due to this extraordinary abundance of material, it was impossible to publish the Critical Reports on the melodies contained in these prints coherently. The management of the project has therefore decided to publish them in volumes, each covering a certain period of time, i.e. the Critical Reports on Melodies will be continued in the subsequent volumes according to the chronology of the prints. In certain periods of time, register volumes, which also contain addenda and corrigenda, are published, with which the submitted material can be additionally indexed.
The sources and main areas of research in this edition differ fundamentally from editions of works by individual composers. An edition of melodies of hymns from printed sources cannot claim to present urtexts. As a result it is difficult to evaluate the existing sources in this sense. Nor will main versions in the sense of melodies which have become established be worked out. Rather, the oldest surviving printed melody traditions are edited in chronological order; these then serve as a reference for the distribution and variant directories.
The edition is aimed first of all at hymnologists in the narrower sense, but it is also intended as a source of comprehensive information required in musicology, theology, German studies or other disciplines. In addition to the edition of melodies, the project therefore aims to provide a complete record of the distribution and variants as well as information on the origin and relationships of melodies.