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Born: November 25, 1525 - Allendorf on the Werra, Hesse, Germany
Died: July 4, 1588 - Rinteln, Lower Saxony, Germany |
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Georg Niege [Nigidius] was a German mercenary and poet. At 9 years of age he came to Kassel, where, under the tutelage of Cantor Georg Kern, the foundation for a very thorough musical education was laid. From 1542 he attended the University of Marburg and graduated in 1546 with a bachelor's degree.
Georg Niege enlisted in the army and thus began the restless life of a soldier. He served in the Smalcald War, at Bremen, in Scotland, at Hamburg, and was made a prisoner of war in Berlin. Some time later he became a notary in Buxtehude; then an Excise Commissioner in Stade. In the war between Denmark and Sweden he obtained a captaincy and likewise under Ludwig of Nassau in the Netherlands, 1566. After twenty years of intermittent war service he served in various civil offices. Then he re-entered army life in 1578.
Georg Niege then became city magistrate of Lage, near Herford, and, 1585, steward of the Kommenturei in Herford. He moved to Rinteln in 1587, where he died July 4, 1588, of apoplexy.
Thus ended the colorful and checkered life of a gifted author and composer, forgotten and unknown until Professor Dr. P. Althaus of Leipzig in 1918 made a remarkable discovery in the royal library in Berlin. Here were found, after more than three centuries, the manuscripts of several volumes of poetical and musical productions entitled: The Seven Penitential Psalms together with all manner of Christian Hymns of Praise and Thanksgiving, and also Prayers and Passages of Scripture Composed and Compiled by Georg Niege of Allendorf, a Captain. Unable to find a publisher, Niege had sent the manuscript to Nikolaus Selnecker to obtain his aid for publication in Leipzig. N. Selnecker, to his regret, could not find a publisher either. His opinion was: "Those beautiful songs are full of comfort and would refresh many Christians." So the dust of centuries was allowed to accumulate on the manuscript. However, several hymns, among them the morning hymn "Aus meines Herzens Grunde", were published in Creutzbuechlein, 1585-1587, at Herford. However, because there were no notes in the printery at Herford, the melodies of Niege's own creation, which N. Selneckerr also praised highly, were not included. |
