German Baroque composer Johann (or Johannes) Crüger (1598-1662) studied in Sorau, Breslau, Olmutz and Regensburg, traveled to Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and Morovia, tutored children, and then entered theological studies at the University of Wittenberg. He left early to become Kantor of Berlin's Saint Nicholas Church, also teaching at the Gymnasium of the Grey Friars. Even though the Thirty Years War exhausted his creative abilities for a time, he returned to composition, finally writing tunes for at least seventy-two texts by Paul Gerhardt, Johann Frank, Johann Heermann, Martin Rinkart, Simon Dach, Johann Rist, Bartholomaeus Ringwaldt, and others. He also composed seventy-one known chorales and assembled several hymn collections, of which the Praxis pietatis melica became known as the most important contribution to hymnody in the 17th Century.
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