Martin Gotthard Schneider (26 April 1930 – 3 February 2017) was a German

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, church musician, ''Landeskantor'' (state cantor), songwriter, and academic teacher. He is known for prize-winning songs of the genre ''

Neues Geistliches Lied (, ''new spiritual song''), abbreviated NGL, is a music genre of songs in German intended for church usage, and based on contemporary lyrics and with music by contemporary composers. History The idea to reach young people by new songs for ...

'', such as " Danke" and "Ein Schiff, das sich Gemeinde nennt".

Career

Born in

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

, Schneider studied Protestant theology and church music in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

and

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. From 1958 he worked in

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

, first as a vicar at the Ludwigskirche, and from 1960 to 1970 as teacher of religion at the Kepler Gymnasium. During these years he began to build a wide-ranging church music work. He temporarily was a part-time church musician at two churches, the Christuskirche and the Pauluskirche, and became ''Bezirkskantor'' (regional cantor) in the church district of Freiburg. In 1958, he won a prize for organ improvisation at the International Improvisation Competition (

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

). In 1961, he founded the concert choir Heinrich-Schütz-Kantorei. In 1970, Schneider was appointed Kirchenmusikdirektor (church music director). From 1970 to 1995, he held the position of church musician at the Ludwigskirche and the Pauluskirche, and from 1975 to 1995 the office of ''Landeskantor'' for Southern Baden. From 1963 to 1997, he lectured at the Musikhochschule Freiburg, appointed professor in 1980.

Work

Schneider's compositional work is oriented towards the practice of church music and includes choral and organ music. Above all, Schneider has emerged as an author of the genre ''

''. His hymn " Danke" earned him the first prize in the song competition of the

Evangelische Akademie Tutzing The ' (Protestant Academy of Tutzing) is an education and conference center in Tutzing, Bavaria, run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. It was founded in 1947. The main building is Schloss Tutzing on Lake Starnberg. The academy awards ...

in 1961. In 1963, it reached the German charts (''Hitparade'') and stayed for six weeks. It was the only sacred song to make the charts, and it was translated into 25 languages. "Ein Schiff, das sich Gemeinde nennt" (second prize in 1963) is also well known. Schneider's songbook ''Sieben Leben möcht ich haben'' appeared in 1975. Organ improvisations and choral music with Schneider are available on CDs. The Protestant hymnal ''

Evangelisches Gesangbuch ''Evangelisches Gesangbuch'' (''EG''; , "Protestantism, Protestant song book") is the current hymnal of German-language congregations in Germany, Alsace and Lorraine, Austria, and Luxembourg, which was introduced from 1993 and 1996, succeeding ...

'' (EG) includes six of his hymns, including "Danke" as EG 334.

References

External links

Heinrich-Schütz-Kantorei Freiburg (Chorleiterportrait)

Martin Gotthard Schneider / 1930
Carus-Verlag
Martin Gotthard Schneider
evangelisch.de 2015

liebesgedichte-geschichten.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, Martin Gotthard 1930 births 2017 deaths German male composers Sacred music composers German Protestant hymnwriters Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg Organists and composers in the South German tradition People from Konstanz Kirchenmusikdirektor German male classical organists