CHRISTUS, DER IST MEIN LEBEN

Composer: Melchior Vulpius

Melchior Vulpius (Hymn-Writer, Composer) Born: c1560 (or c1570 according to Grove Music Online) - Wasungen (Hennelberg Territory), Thuringia, Germany Died: August 7, 1615 - Weimar, Germany Melchior Vulpius [Fuchs] was German composer, schoolmaster and writer on music. He was the most important composer of Protestant hymn tunes in Germany in his day and one of the most productive and popular of lesser Lutheran composers. Life Together with one of his brothers, Melchior Vulpius latinized the family name, Fuchs, but still occasionally used that form. He was the son of poor parents and as a result was only able to attend the small Lateinschule in his home town, where he was a pupil of Johann Steurelein. In 1588 he was at Speyer as a… Go to person page >

Melchior Vulpius (PHH 397) composed this short chorale tune, published as a setting for the anonymous funeral hymn "Christus, der ist me in Leben" ("For Me to Live Is Jesus") in Vulpius's Ein Schön Geistlich Gesangbuch (1609). Johann S. Bach (PHH 7) based his Cantata 95 on this tune and provided two harmonizations, one in duple and the other in triple meter, in his Charalgesänge.

Sing stanzas 1-3 in harmony with suitably prayerful accompaniment. Sing the final stanza in unison with a more full registration on the organ.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook