Matthias Greitter

Matthias Greitter, also Matthew Greiter, (* 1495 in Aichach, † December 20, 1550 in Strasbourg ) was a clergyman, cantor and composer.

Greitter was religious priest and cantor at the cathedral in Strasbourg. As there in 1524 prevailed mainly through the influence of Wolfgang Capito, the Reformation, he was faced with the choice to join the new movement or to leave the city. He remained, as did his friend Wolfgang Dachstein, withdrew from the monastery and was from 1528 to assistant pastor of St. Stephen and St. Martin. 1538 he took a position as a music teacher at the Collegium argentinense, the forerunner of the University of Strasbourg. Under the terms of the Augsburg Interim in 1549 he returned to the Catholic faith and founded a Catholic school of singing, but died the following year, probably due to the plague.

From Greitter comes the melody of still regularly sung in the liturgy of the Protestant worship Kyrie (EC 178.2 ) and large Gloria (EC 180.1 ). In addition, he created a further 20 chorale melodies, the most famous he knew in 1525 with the text: There are yet blessed all who walk in the true faith here. Sebald Heyden they put his O man, bewail thy sin big ( EC 76), other texts to be I greet you on the cross strain of Valentin Ernst Löscher (EC 90), Jauchz, earth, and sky, rejoice light of Ambrose Blarer (EC 127 ) and he Exalt is our God by Matthias Jorissen (EC 281). John Calvin, who during his stay in Strasbourg in 1538 the way - 1541 met her, she led the French -speaking world; in the Geneva Psalter it is assigned its own paraphrase of the 36th Psalm, as well as that of the 68th Psalm by Theodore de Beza. The latter was an important battle song of the Huguenots.

There are also from the pen Matthias Greitters 14 secular songs to four voices, a five-part Christ is risen and a four -part setting of the Tristia of Ovid, 8, verses 15 et seq ( Passibus ambiguis Fortuna volubilis errat ). In 1544 he published a textbook of music: elementals musicum juventuti accomodum.