Johann Valentin Meder

Johann Valentin Meder ( May 3, 1649 Wasungen ( Werra), † July 1719 in Riga ) was a German composer and organist.

Meder was born the son of the cantor Johann Erhard Medes. He studied theology in Leipzig ( 1669), the study, however, did not finish and led from 1671 on an unsettled life as a musician in various professional positions, him to Gotha, Kassel, Bremen, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Lübeck and Reval in 1685 Riga led. Before he finally returned there, he moved too short visits to Danzig and Konigsberg. In Riga he worked until his death as a cathedral organist.

From his motets, cantatas, a St. Matthew Passion, and various works of instrumental music have been preserved. Due to the composition of two operas he lost the support of the Council of the City of Gdansk.

In his work of the 1700s Matthew Passion Meder makes the words of Jesus is always accompanied by two violins. This and also the overall musical disposition could lead to the assumption that Johann Sebastian Bach may have known the work.