Johann Crüger

Johann Crüger was a German Lutheran composer, cantor, teacher, music theorist, and hymnal editor born near Guben in 1598. After schooling and musical study in several cities, including Regensburg, he studied theology at the University of Wittenberg. In 1622 he became cantor of St. Nicholas Church in Berlin and a teacher at the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster, posts he retained for roughly four decades. He also wrote influential music manuals, including Synopsis musica.

Crüger's greatest importance to hymnody came through his editing of Berlin songbooks, especially Praxis Pietatis Melica. The collection became one of the most influential Lutheran hymnals of the seventeenth century and provided early publication for many texts by Paul Gerhardt, whom Crüger had come to know in Berlin. Crüger supplied melodies for a number of Gerhardt's hymns, helping create a durable partnership between poetry and congregational song.

AUF, AUF, MEIN HERZ is Crüger's melody for Gerhardt's Easter hymn. Modern authorities commonly date the tune to 1648, although some German sources associate both text and melody with the 1647 Praxis tradition. The melody remains public domain and continues to accompany Gerhardt's hymn in Lutheran worship.