Paul Thymich or Thiemich (17 June 1656, Großenhain

Großenhain

Großenhain is a Große Kreisstadt in the district of Meißen, Saxony, Germany.-History:...

 - 1694, Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

) was a German poet.

Life

Having studied at the Thomasschule zu Leipzig

Thomasschule zu Leipzig

St. Thomas School, Leipzig is a co-educational and public boarding school in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1212 and is one of the oldest schools in the world.St. Thomas is known for its art, language and music education...

 and the University of Leipzig

University of Leipzig

The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...

, Thymich served as a teacher at the former from 1681 until his death. He also worked as a secular and religious poet and an opera librettist for the Leipziger Oper and the ducal court at Weißenfels

Weißenfels

Weißenfels is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately south of Halle.-History:...

. He wrote the eleven-verse poem "Komm, Jesu, komm" for Johann Schelle

Johann Schelle

Johann Schelle was a German baroque composer.Schelle was born in Geising and died in Leipzig. He was the cantor of the Thomanerchor from 1677 to 1701....

 (cantor of the Thomasschule from 1677 to his death in 1701) to set to music for the funeral of the school's rector Jacob Thomasius

Jakob Thomasius

Jakob Thomasius was a German academic philosopher and jurist. He is now regarded as an important founding figure in the scholarly study of the history of philosophy. His views were eclectic, and were taken up by his son Christian Thomasius....

, who died on 9 September 1684 - the text closely follows John

Gospel of John

The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...

 14:6 ("I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me") and its first and final verses were later used by 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...

 for his funeral motet of the same name

Komm, Jesu, komm!

Komm, Jesu, komm! is a motet by Johann Sebastian Bach, with a text by Paul Thymich. It was composed in Leipzig before 1735, possibly between 1723 and 1734, and had already received its first performance by 1731–1732....

.

Sources

Gustav Roethe: Thymich, Paul In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie is one of the most important and most comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language....

(ADB). Vol 38, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 236 f.