Paul Thymich (Poet)

Born: June 16, 1656 - Großenhain, Saxony, Germany
Died: 1694 - Leipzig, Saxony, Germany

Paul Thymich [Thiemich] was a German poet. Having studied at the Thomasschule zu Leipzig and the University of Leipzig, Thymich served as a teacher at the former from 1681 until his death. He also worked as a secular and religious poet and an opera librettist for the Leipziger Oper and the ducal court at Weißenfels. He wrote the eleven-verse poem Komm, Jesu, komm, mein Leib ist müde for Johann Schelle (Kantor of the Thomasschule from 1677 to his death in 1701) to set to music for the funeral of the school's rector Jacob Thomasius, who died on September 9, 1684 - the text closely follows John 14:6 ("I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me") and its first and final verses were later used by J.S. Bach for his funeral motet of the same name (BWV 229).

Source: Wikipedia Website (June 2012)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (September 2012)

Texts of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

BWV 229/1-2

Chorale Texts used in Bach’s Vocal Works

Komm, Jesu, komm, mein Leib ist müde

Links to other Sites

Paul Thymich (Wikipedia)

Bibliography

Gustav Roethe: Thymich, Paul In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Vol 38, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 236 f.