Matthäus Apelles von Löwenstern

LÖWENSTERN, Matthäus Apelles von. b. Neustadt, Oppeln, Silesia (now Opole, Poland), 20 April 1594; d. Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland), 11 April 1648. The son of a saddler, his musical abilities led to his appointment as director of music and treasurer by Duke Heinrich Wenzel of Münsterberg (1625). He became a minister and director of finance in 1631. He then served under the Emperors Frederick II and Frederick III: the latter ennobled him (‘von Löwenstern’). He became first minister to Duke Carl Friedrich of Münsterberg. Löwenstern was the author of thirty hymns, the texts set to his own tunes. The original publication date is unknown (1643?), but they were published together with a Breslau...