Christian Demelius

Christian Demelius (born April 1, 1643 in Schlettau ; † November 1, 1711 in Nordhausen ) was a German composer and worked as a church musician in Nordhausen.

Life

Christianus Demelius ( Latinized form of Christian Döhmel) was born on April 1, 1643 as the son of the brewer Paul Döhmel and Maria Döhmel (1590–1632) in Schlettau in the Ore Mountains. He was trained by the Schlettau town clerk and organist Christoph Knorr, after which Demelius went to the Zwickau Music School in 1658 on his advice .

In 1663 he got a job in Nordhausen am Harz, where he taught as a music teacher at the grammar school. In addition, Mayor Ernst Kelner commissioned Demelius with the education and training of his children, whom he accompanied to the University of Jena in 1666 . There Demelisu joined the Jena court orchestra and received composition lessons from court conductor Adam Drese . In 1669 he was appointed city cantor at the St. Blasiikirche Nordhausen and held this office until his death on November 1st, 1711. In addition, Demelius led the city's school choir for 40 years.

Christian Demelius and two of his sons directed the musical fortunes of the St. Blasiikirche for 88 years.

family

On March 6, 1671 Demelius married the daughter of the late mayor Johann Kelner, Catharina Margarete Kelner, in Heringen. As a result, five sons and five daughters were born.

Son Andreas Demelius (born November 26, 1682) succeeded him as cantor at the St. Blasiikirche in Nordhausen, while his son Conrad Richard Demelius was organist at the same church.

plant

Demelius published the Protestant Nordhäuser Gesangbuch ( elementary book for music ), which appeared in 1688 and made him known beyond the city limits. He also left several compositions. Erhardt Anger, cantor in Gelenau, gave Demelius' motets from old part books around 1960.

Web links

• Christianus Demelius (1643–1711) on the occasion of his 370th birthday in Schlettau (PDF) . In: Official Gazette Schlettau No. 2013, p. 10.

literature

• Werner Braun (ed.): The composition theory of Christian Demelius, Nordhausen around 1702 , Nordhausen 2000
• Arrey von Dommer:  Demel, Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 46.
• Karl Hans Pollmer : Erzgebirge Calendar Stories , Berlin 1972, p. 63
• Dieter Theml: Christianus Demelius (1643-1711) on the occasion of his 370th birthday in Schlettau , in: Official and Mitteilungsblatt der Stadt Schlettau No. 3/2013, p. 10 ( digitized version ; PDF; 1.1 MB)
• Dieter Theml: The church musician Christian Demelius (1643-1711) , in: Erzgebirgische Heimatblätter 2/2013, pp. 2-4