Introduction

Biography

Crüger be­gan stu­dy­ing the­o­lo­gy in Wi­tt­enberg in 1620. In 1622, he be­came or­gan­ist of the Ni­ko­lai­kir­che in Be­rlin.

He was a friend of Paul Ger­hardt, and wrote me­lo­dies for ma­ny hymns by Ger­hardt and oth­ers.

Crüger also com­posed sac­red works for cho­ral and ins­tru­men­tal per­for­manc­es, and was a mu­sic­ol­o­gist, writ­ing about the the­o­ry and prac­tice of mu­sic.

Works

In 1640, Crü­ger ed­it­ed a hym­n­al ti­tled (be­gin­ning with the 1647 ed­i­tion) Prax­is Pi­e­ta­tis Me­li­ca. His oth­er works in­clude:

• Synopsis Mu­si­ca, 1630
• Newes volk­köm­lich­es Ge­sang­buch Augs­burg­isch­er Con­fess­ion, 1640
• Geistliche Kirch­en­mel­o­di­en, 1649
• Psalmodia Sac­ra, 1657
• Musicae Prac­ti­cae Prae­cep­ta (Rules for Prac­tic­ing Mu­sic), 1660