1495 - 1550 Person Name: Matthäus Greiter, ca. 1500-1552 Topics: Alleluias; Biblical Names and Places Jacob; Biblical Names and Places Zion; Church Year Advent; Elements of Worship Gathering; Elements of Worship Praise and Adoration; God Light from; God Trust in; God as Refuge; God as Creator; God as King; God's Generosity; God's Justice; Grace; Gratitude; Hymns of Praise; Jesus Christ Healer; Joy; Life Stages Orphans; Life Stages Widows; Lord's Prayer 4th petition (give us today our daily bread); Mercy; Occasional Services Funerals; People of God / Church Citizens of Heaven; People of God / Church Suffering; Poverty; Prayer; Social Justice; The Creation; Year A, Advent, 34d Sunday; Year B, Ordinary Time after Pentecost, October 30-November 5; Year B, Ordinary Time after Pentecost, September 4-10; Year C, Ordinary Time after Pentecost, June 5-11 (if after Trinity Sunday); Year C, Ordinary Time after Pentecost, September 25-October 1 Composer of "OLD 113TH" in Psalms for All Seasons Greitter, Matthäus, was a monk and chorister of Strassburg Cathedral, but in 1524 espoused the cause of the Reformation. In 1528 he was appointed assistant pastor of St. Martin's Church, and afterwards at St. Stephen's. When the Interim [Agricola] was forced on Strassburg, he was the only one of the Lutheran pastors that sought to further it, a course which he afterwards deeply regretted. His death is dated by Wetzel, i. 349, as Dec. 20, 1550; by the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, ix. 636, as Nov. 20, 1550; while Koch, ii. 104, says he died of the pestilence in 1552.
Greitter was a distinguished musician, and with his friend Dachstein (q.v.) edited the Strassburg Kirchen ampt, 1524-5. Four psalm tunes by Greitter, and one by Dachstein were inserted by Calvin in his first Hymnbook published at Strassburg, 1539. All these were transferred to the first edition of the French-Genevan Psalter in 1542, and two of them, both by Greitter (the tunes to psalms 36 and 91), were retained in the final edition of 1562. Of his seven Psalm versions 4 have been translated into English :—
i. Ach Gott, wie lang vergissest mein. Ps. xiii. 1524. Wackernagel, iii. p. 89, in 4 st. Translated as, "O Lord, how lang forever wil thow foirget," in the Gude and Godly Ballates, ed. 1568, folio 46 (1868, p. 78).
ii. Da Israel aus Egypten zog. Ps. cxiv. In Die Zwen Psalmen: In exitu Israel, &c, Strassburg, 1527, thence in Wackernagel, iii. p. 93, in 2 stanzas. Translated as, "Quhen, fra Egypt departit Israeli," In the Gude & Godly Ballates, ed. 1568, folio 56 (1868, p. 95).
iii. Nicht uns, nicht uns, o ewiger Herr. Ps. cxv, 1527, as ii., and Wackernagel, iii. p. 93, in 4 st. Translated as, “Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord," in the G. & G. Ballates, ed. 1568, folio 56 (1868, p. 95).
iv. 0 Herre Gott, begnade mich. Ps. li. 1525. Wackernagel, iii. p. 90, in 5 st. Translated as, "O Lorde God, have mercy on me," by Bishop Coverdale, 1539 (Remains, 1846, p. 574). [Rev.James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Matthias Greiter