Spitta, Carl Johann Phillip

Author

b Hanover, Germany 1801, d Burgdorf, Germany 1859. The son of a French father and a Christian Jewish mother, he was a writer of verse from the age of 8 and apprenticed at first to a watchmaker, he studied at the Univ of Göttingen where he met Heinrich Heine and continued to produce poems and song lyrics. Soon afterwards, in 1824 as he later explained to a friend, his hymnwriting began: ‘In the manner in which I formerly sang, I sing no more. To the Lord I consecrate my life and my love, and likewise my song…He gave me song and melody; I give it back to him’. In 1828 he was ordained as asst Lutheran pastor at Sudwalde nr Hoya. After 9 years he became the pastor at nearby Wechold, and a decade later a superintendent successively at Wittingen, Peine and briefly at Burgdorf where he died at his desk very suddenly. He published 2 parts of the Psalter und Harfe in 1833 and 1843, and these volumes achieved nationwide popularity. They are highly praised in Julian, while being very personal in style and considered by some to be better suited to private use. No.928.