Philipp Spitta (poet)


Karl Johann Philipp Spitta was a German Protestant religious poet.

Biography

Born in Hanover, he was educated at Göttingen, and from 1824 to 1828 he was a tutor near Lüneburg, and there wrote the most favored of his hymns. Afterwards he was vicar or pastor in several churches, and in 1859, shortly before his death, was made superintendent at Burgdorf.

Hymns

His hymns, contained in Psalter und Harfe, and in the Nachgelassene geistliche Lieder, rank high in the German spiritual song of the 19th century, and attained great popularity, attributed by some to their freshness of thought, purity of style, and depth of sentiment. See also Lyra domestica. His "Freuet euch der schönen Erde" is part of the Evangelisches Gesangbuch hymnal.

Family

Among his ancestors was Jewish diarist Glückel of Hameln. Spitta's son Friedrich Spitta was a noted theologian. Another son, also named Philipp Spitta, was a musicologist, best known for his biography of Johann Sebastian Bach.