Gottfried Vopelius (28 January 1645 – 3 February 1715), was a GermanLutheran academic and hymn-writer, mainly active inLeipzig. He was born in Herwigsdorf, now a district ofRosenbach,Oberlausitz, and died in Leipzig at the age of 70.^[2]

Vopelius is primarily remembered for theNeu Leipziger Gesangbuch (New Leipzig Hymnal) which he published in 1682.^[2][3][4] The subtitle of the publication reads:

... Von den schönsten und besten Liedern verfasset, In welchem Nicht allein des sel. Herrn D. Lutheri und andere mit Gottes Wort, und unveränderter Augsburgischer Confession überein stimmende, und in Christlicher Gemeine allhier, wie auch anderer reinen Evangelischen Orten und Landen eingeführete und gebräuchliche Gesänge, Lateinische Hymni und Psalmen, Mit 4. 5. bis 6. Stimmen, deren Melodeyen Theils aus Johann Herman Scheins Cantional, und andern guten Autoribus zusammen getragen, theils aber selbsten componiret; Sondern auch die Passion nach den heiligen Evangelisten Matthaeo und Johanne, die Auferstehung, die Missa, Praefationes, Responsoria und Collecten, auf die gewöhnlichen Sonn- und hohen Festtage, das Magnificat nach den 8. Tonis, Te Deum laudamus, Symbolum Nicaenum, &c. Choraliter, Und was sonsten bey dem ordentlichen Gottesdienste gesungen wird, zu finden

— Gottfried Vopelius,title page of theNeu Leipziger Gesangbuch

Or, translated:

... Compiled from the most beautiful and best songs; In which not only songs of the blessedDr. Luther, and other (songs) with the Word of God, and in accord with the unmodifiedAugsburg Confession, but also (songs) as introduced and customary in other untaintedEvangelical places and regions, andLatinhymns andpsalms, set for four, five and up to sixvoices, the settings of which are partly collected fromJohann Herman Schein'sCantional, and from other good authors, and partly also composed by myself, also, in particular, thePassion according to the holyEvangelistsMatthew andJohn, theResurrection, theMass,Prefaces,Responsories andCollects, forordinarySundays and high Feasts, theMagnificat in the eighttones,Te Deum laudamus,Symbolum Nicenum, etc.choraliter, and whatever else is sung in regular church services, are to be found

TheNeu Leipziger Gesangbuch is, to a certain degree, a third edition ofJohann Schein'sCantional [scores], which originally had been published in 1627, with a new edition in 1645. Over 90 settings in theNeu Leipziger Gesangbuch were copied or adapted from Schein. All other composers are represented with less than 10 settings in the hymnal. Of these, onlyJohann Crüger andAndreas Hammerschmidt are mentioned for more than three settings.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

TheNeu Leipziger Gesangbuch was one of the last important hymnals in theKantional format (i.e. printed with music, including part-songs): congregational singing was generally becoming monodic, with an instrumental accompaniment, for which hymnals with only texts became the new standard.^[9]

In his Leipzig time (1723–1750),Johann Sebastian Bach used theNeu Leipziger Gesangbuch as a reference work for many of his sacred compositions.^[15] For the closing chorales of his cantatasBWV 27 andBWV 43 he used the harmonisation as found in the hymnal.^[16][17] For other chorale settings, such asBWV 281, he stayed close to the harmonisation published by Vopelius.^[18]

In 1693 Vopelius published theLeipziger Gesangbuch, which he describes as a republication of theNeu Leipziger Gesangbuch, however without the chorale settings, but with more hymns, and enriched with engravings.^[1] The next edition appeared in 1707.^[19] Later editions of theLeipziger Gesangbuch, in 1729, 1733 and 1752, further enlarged the number of hymns, to 852, 856 and 1015 respectively, and referred to Vopelius as the former editor of the hymnal.^[20][21][22] The 1758 and 1767 editions kept the number of hymns at 1015, keeping also the referral to Vopelius as former editor on the title page.^[23][24]

• List of hymns by Martin Luther

Wikimedia Commons has media related toGottfried Vopelius.

• Scores edited by Gottfried Vopelius at theInternational Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• J. S. Bach'sChorales (after hymns that appear in the)Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch atbach-chorales.com

• 1645 births
• 1715 deaths
• People from Görlitz (district)
• German Lutherans
• Writers from Leipzig

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Interlanguage link template existing link
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Composers with IMSLP links
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