Introduction

Biography

Son of a cler­gy­man, Nä­ge­li has been called the man who taught Swit­zer­land to sing. He was vir­tu­al­ly a na­tion­al he­ro of po­pu­lar mu­sic and folk sing­ing. His most po­pu­lar song, still sung in beer tents the world ov­er, is Freut euch des Le­bens (1791).

Nägeli helped found sev­er­al cho­ral so­ci­eties, and fre­quen­tly cor­res­pond­ed with Fried­rich Sil­cher, who great­ly ad­mired him.

Works

• Gesangsbildunglehre nach Pes­ta­loz­zisch­en Grund­sätz­en, 1810
• Christliches Ge­sang­buch (Zür­ich, Swit­zer­land: 1828)