Johann von Rist was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 poet and dramatist best known for the hymns he wrote.

Life

He was born at Ottensen

Ottensen

Ottensen 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 105 quarters of Hamburg. Ottensen is an urban area, which population was 32,757 in 2006....

 in Holstein

Holstein

Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....

 (today Hamburg) on 8 March 1607; the son of the Lutheran pastor of that place, Caspar Rist. He received his early training at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums

Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums

The Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums is a Gymnasium in Hamburg, Germany. It is Hamburg's oldest school and was founded in 1529 by Johannes Bugenhagen. The school's motto is The Future needs a Heritage...

 in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and the Gymnasium Illustre in Bremen; he then studied theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 at the University of Rinteln

Rinteln

Rinteln is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river above the Porta Westfalica. Population: 28,500.It is accessed by the A2 autobahn .-History:...

. 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

University of Rostock

The University of Rostock is the university of the city Rostock, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.Founded in 1419, it is the oldest and largest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area...

, where he himself studied Hebrew, mathematics, and medicine. During his time at Rostock, the Thirty Years War 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

Heide is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the Kreis Dithmarschen. Population: 21,000.The German word Heide means "heath". In the 15th century four adjoining villages decided to build a church in the "middle of the heath". This remained the town's name to date...

, in Holstein. Two years later (1635) he was appointed pastor of the village of Wedel

Wedel

Wedel is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, approximately south of Elmshorn, and mile, west of Hamburg.-Foundation and Middle Ages:...

 on the Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

. The same year he married Elisabeth Stapel, sister of Franz Stapel, bailiff of nearby Pinneberg. They had 5 children, of whom 2 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

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

Ferdinand III was Holy Roman Emperor from 15 February 1637 until his death, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria.-Life:...

 crowned him laureate in 1644, ennobled him in 1653, and invested him with the dignity of a Count Palatine

Count Palatine (Imperial)

The Imperial Count Palatine was a title revived by Emperor Charles IV which was based upon the former position of a Count Palatine in the royal court....

, an honor which enabled him to the crown, and to gain numerous poets for the Elbschwanen order ("Elbe Swan Order"), 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 evangelical hymn book: e.g. O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort and Ermunt're dich, mein schwacher Geist. Collections of his poems appeared under the titles Musa Teutonica (1634) and Himmlische Lieder (1643). Johann Sebastian Bach composed two cantatas on O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60 using the first verse and BWV 20 based on the complete chorale.

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

External links

Rist-Jahr 2007 Homepage by the Municipality of Wedel with lots of 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.