Bartholomäus Gesius

GESIUS, Bartholomäus. b. Müncheberg, near Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, 1551/52; d. Frankfurt an der Oder, 1613. His name is spelt in several ways (see MGG entry below). He studied theology at Frankfurt-am-Main from 1575. He broke his studies by working as a cantor in Müncheberg (documentary evidence survives from 1582), and then returned to university, where his presence is recorded in 1585. He became a domestic tutor to a nobleman in Muskau and Sprottau before 1588. He moved to be cantor at the Marienkirche in Frankfurt in March 1593, where he died, possibly of the plague, in 1613. He had seven children. He was a composer of religious music, including Passions according to St John (1588) and St...