Caspar Ziegler


Caspar Ziegler, also Kaspar Ziegler, was a German jurist, poet, hymnwriter and composer. He was the Rektor of the University of Wittenberg.

Career

Ziegler was born in Leipzig the son of Caspar Ziegler sr., a lawyer and Prokonsul in the town council, and his wife Anna. He studied at the University of Leipzig.
In 1638 Ziegler was a Baccalaureus of philosophy, permitted to lecture at the university. His father requested him to move to the University of Wittenberg in 1641, where he heard lectures by August Buchner,, Johann Sperling and. As his parents wished him to study theology, he also studied with Hieronymus Kronmeyer and Johann Hülsemann. In November 1652 he began to study law in Leipzig with Polycarp Wirth and Andreas Eckholt. In 1655 he received the doctor's degree in law.
In 1654 he was appointed professor at the University of Wittenberg, at the same to the court. In 1661 he was appointed Rektor of the University. He reorganized its library which had been destroyed during the Thirty Years' War.
He died in Wittenberg after an infection from a broken leg, and was buried in the Schlosskirche on 24 April 1690.

Works

Some poems by Ziegler were set to music. He was a friend of the composers Johann Rosenmüller and Heinrich Schütz and collaborated with them. Ziegler wrote a treatise about madrigals, Von den Madrigalen, published in 1653, as requested by Schütz His poem "Ich freue mich in dir" became a hymn and was the basis for Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale cantata for Christmas Ich freue mich in dir, BW 133.
Among his works are: