Leuthen Chorale

The Leuthen Chorale was a tune originally composed in the seventeenth century by Johannes Crüger, tutor to the von Blumenthal family and Director of Music at the Nikolaikirche in Berlin. It was used as the setting for Martin Luther's hymn "Nun danket alle Gott" (sung in English to the same tune as "Now thank we all our God").

After the Battle of Leuthen in 1757, an unknown Prussian soldier standing near Frederick the Great began singing it spontaneously, and the hymn was taken up by the entire assembled Prussian army, about 25.000 men.