Komm, süßer Tod, komm selge Ruh (Come, Sweet Death, Come Blessed Rest) is a song for solo voice and basso continuo

Figured bass

Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones, in relation to a bass note...

 from the 69 Sacred Songs and Arias that Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

 contributed to Georg Christian Schemelli's Musicalisches Gesangbuch (BWV 478) edited by Georg Christian Schemelli in 1736. Bach, by means of melody and harmony, expresses the desire for death and heaven. It is among his most popular works and has been adapted and transformed by several composers, such as Max Reger

Max Reger

Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...

, Leopold Stokowski

Leopold Stokowski

Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...

, Knut Nystedt

Knut Nystedt

Knut Nystedt is an orchestral and choral composer.Nystedt was born in Kristiania , Norway, and grew up in a Christian home where hymns and classical music were an important part of everyday life. His major compositions for choir and vocal soloists are mainly based on texts from the Bible or sacred...

 and Virgil Fox

Virgil Fox

Virgil Keel Fox was an American organist, known especially for his flamboyant "Heavy Organ" concerts of the music of Bach. These events appealed to audiences in the 1970s who were more familiar with rock 'n' roll music and were staged complete with light shows...

.

Lyrics

German original	English translation
Komm, süßer Tod, komm selge Ruh! Komm führe mich in Friede, weil ich der Welt bin müde, ach komm! ich wart auf dich, komm bald und führe mich, drück mir die Augen zu. Komm, selge Ruh!	Come, sweet death, come blessed rest! Come lead me to peace for I am weary of the world, oh come! I wait for you, come soon and lead me, close my eyes. Come, blessed rest!
Komm, süßer Tod, komm, selge Ruh! Im Himmel ist es besser, da alle Lust viel größer, drum bin ich jederzeit schon zum Valet bereit, ich schließ die Augen zu. Komm, selge Ruh!	Come, sweet death, come blessed rest! It is better in heaven, for there is all pleasure greater, therefore I am at all times prepared to say "Farewell," I close my eyes. Come, blessed rest!
Komm, süßer Tod, komm, selge Ruh! O Welt, du Marterkammer, ach! bleib mit deinem Jammer auf dieser Trauerwelt, der Himmel mir gefällt, der Tod bringt mich darzu. Komm, selge Ruh!	Come, sweet death, come blessed rest! Oh world, you torture chamber, oh! stay with your lamentations in this world of sorrow, it is heaven that I desire, death shall bring me there. Come, blessed rest!
Komm, süßer Tod, komm, selge Ruh! O, dass ich doch schon wäre dort bei der Engel Heere, aus dieser schwarzen Welt ins blaue Sternenzelt, hin nach dem Himmel zu. O: selge Ruh!	Come, sweet death, come blessed rest! Oh, that I were but already there among the hosts of angels, out of this black world into the blue, starry firmament, up to heaven. Oh, blessed rest!
Komm, süßer Tod, komm, selge Ruh! Ich will nun Jesum sehen und bei den Engeln stehen. Es ist nunmehr vollbracht, drum, Welt, zu guter Nacht, mein Augen sind schon zu. Komm, selge Ruh!	Come, sweet death, come blessed rest! I will now see Jesus and stand among the angels. It is henceforth completed, so, world, good night, my eyes are already closed. Come, blessed rest.