Cornelius Becker (1561–1604) was an Orthodox Lutheran pastor in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. He prepared the

Becker Psalter The ''Becker Psalter'' is a German metrical psalter authored by the Leipzig theologian Cornelius Becker and first published by Jakob Apel in Leipzig in 1602 under the title ''Der Psalter Davids Gesangweis''. Several composers set the psalms cont ...

, some of which

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque music, Baroque composer and organ (music), organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and one of the most important composers of ...

set to music.

Jane Stuart Smith Jane Stuart Smith, also known on the stage as Gianna Stuart, (September 29, 1925 – January 14, 2016) was an American soprano, hymnologist, and author. A native of Virginia, Smith trained as a singer at Hollins College, the Juilliard School, ...

& Betty Carlson (1995), ''The Gift of Music: Great Composers and Their Influence'', p. 23, Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois Bach used his version of

Psalm 23 Psalm 23 is the 23rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The Lord is my shepherd". In Latin, it is known by the incipit, "". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and ...

for his

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

'' Du Hirte Israel, höre, BWV 104''.

References

1561 births 1604 deaths 16th-century German Lutheran clergy {{Christian-theologian-stub