Johann Rist (8 March 1607 – 31 August 1667) was a German poet and dramatist best known for his hymns, which inspired musical settings and have remained in hymnals.
Life
Rist was born at
Ottensen
Ottensen () (old name: Ottenhusen) located in Hamburg, Germany in the Altona borough on the right bank of the Elbe river, is a former town. It is a now one of the 104 quarters of Hamburg.
History
The first record of Ottensen dates from 1310. In ...
in
Holstein-Pinneberg
The County of Holstein-Pinneberg (), also known as the County of Schauenburg and Holstein-Pinneberg (), was a small territory which existed from 1290 until 1640, centred around Pinneberg in modern-day Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
Rise and fall of ...
(today Hamburg) on 8 March 1607; the son of the
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
pastor of that place, Caspar Rist. He received his early training at the
Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums
The ''Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums'' ( ''Academic School of the Johanneum'', short: Johanneum) is a Gymnasium (or Grammar School ) in Hamburg, Germany. It is Hamburg's oldest school and was founded in 1529 by Johannes Bugenhagen. The school's f ...
in Hamburg and the Gymnasium Illustre in
Bremen; he then studied
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
at the university of
Rinteln
Rinteln () is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river above the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In rela ...
. Under the influence of Josua Stegman there, his interest in hymn writing began. On leaving Rinteln, he tutored the sons of a Hamburg merchant, accompanying them to the
University of Rostock
The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...
, where he himself studied Hebrew, mathematics, and medicine. During his time at Rostock, the
Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...
almost emptied the university, and Rist himself lay there for several weeks, suffering from pestilence.
In 1633, he became tutor in the house of Landschreiber Heinrich Sager at
Heide
Heide (; Holsatian: ''Heid'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Dithmarschen. Population: 21,000.
The German word ''Heide'' means "heath". In the 15th century four adjoining villages decided ...
, in Holstein. Two years later (1635) he was appointed pastor of the village of
Wedel on the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
. In 1633 he married Elisabeth Stapel, sister of Franz Stapel, bailiff of nearby Pinneberg. They had five children, of whom two died early; Elisabeth died 1662. In 1664, he married Anna Hagedorn, born Badenhop, widow of his friend Phillipp Hagedorn. He died in Wedel on 31 August 1667.
Work as a dramatist and poet
Rist first made his name known to the literary world by a drama, ''Perseus'' (1634), which he wrote while at Heide, and in the next succeeding years he produced a number of dramatic works of which the allegory ''Das friedewünschende Teutschland'' (1647) and ''Das friedejauchzende Teutschland'' (1653) (new ed. of both by H. M. Schletterer, 1864) are the most interesting. Rist soon became the central figure in a school of minor poets. The emperor
Ferdinand III crowned him laureate in 1644, ennobled him in 1653, and invested him with the dignity of a
Count Palatine
A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an or ...
, an honor which enabled him to the crown, and to gain numerous poets for the ' (Order of Elbe Swans), a literary and poetical society which he founded in 1660. He had already, in 1645, been admitted, under the name ''Daphnis aus Cimbrien'', to the literary order of
Pegnitz, and in 1647 he became, as ''Der Rüstige'', a member of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft ("Fruitbearing Society").
Work as a hymn writer
It is, however, as a writer of church hymns that Rist is best known. Among these several are still retained in the Protestant hymn book: e.g. "
O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort" and "
Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist
"Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist" is a German Christmas carol with lyrics by Johann Rist and a melody by Johann Schop, first published in 1641. Historically it was contained in Protestant hymnals, but the current one, '' Evangelisches Gesangb ...
". Collections of his poems appeared under the titles ''Musa Teutonica'' (1634) and ''Himmlische Lieder'' (1643).
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
composed two cantatas on "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort":
BWV 60 (1723) using the first verse of the hymn, and the
chorale cantata A chorale cantata is a church cantata based on a chorale—in this context a Lutheran chorale. It is principally from the German Baroque era. The organizing principle is the words and music of a Lutheran hymn. Usually a chorale cantata includes m ...
BWV 20 (1724) based on the entire chorale.
''Jesu, der du meine Seele'', BWV 78, is another chorale cantata by Bach, based on the hymn with the same name by Rist.
Rist's hymn "O Gottes Geist, mein Trost und Rat" is sung to the tune of "
Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott".
Christiana Mariana von Ziegler
Christiana Mariana von Ziegler (28 June 1695 – 1 May 1760) was a German poet and writer. She is best known for the texts of nine cantatas, which Johann Sebastian Bach composed after Easter of 1725.
Biography
Christiana Mariana Romanus was born i ...
included its ninth stanza in her libretto for Bach's cantata
''Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen'', BWV 175.
Rist's 1641/1642 hymn "Ein trauriger Grabgesang" is notable for being an early occurrence of the phrase "
God is dead
"God is dead" (German: ; also known as the death of God) is a statement made by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche's first use of this statement is his 1882 ''The Gay Science'', where it appears three times. The phrase also app ...
" in German culture, this time in an explicitly
theistic
Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred t ...
, Protestant Christian context.
The text goes:
Works
* ''Die alleredelste Belustigung'' (1666)
* ''Die alleredelste Erfindung'' (1667)
* ''Das alleredelste Leben'' (1663)
* ''Das alleredelste Nass der gantzen Welt'' (1663)
* ''Das Friedewünschende Teuschland'' (1649)
* ''Sabbathische Seelenlust''. Lüneburg: J. and H. Stern 1651
* ''Neue Musikalische Fest-Andachten'': Lüneburg: J. and H. Stern 1655
* ''Neue Musikalische Katechismus-Andachten''. Lüneburg: J. and H. Stern: 1656
* ''Himmlische Lieder''. Lüneburg: J. and H. Stern 1641
* ''Neue Musikalische Kreutz- Trost- Lob und DankSchule''. Lüneburg: J. and H. Stern 1659
References
; Attribution
*
External links
*
Rist-Jahr 2007Homepage by the Municipality of Wedel with much information about the "Wedel Rist-Anniversary 2007", the man Johann Rist and his circle of friends, register of works, register of documents stored in the Rist-Archive of the Wedel Municipal Archive, pictures etc.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rist, Johann Von
1607 births
1667 deaths
17th-century hymnwriters
17th-century German Lutheran clergy
German Lutheran hymnwriters
German male writers
German poets
People educated at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums
People from Altona, Hamburg
People from the Duchy of Holstein
University of Rostock alumni