Andreas Raselius

Andreas Raselius, also known as Andreas Rasel (c. 1563 – 6 January 1602) was a German composer and kapellmeister during the Renaissance. He worked for much of his career as a teacher and cantor in Regensburg, before being appointed as the court conductor of the Elector Palatine in Heidelberg. He is today best noted as the author of a cycle of motets for use throughout the year, the first such cycle to be composed in the German language, which was published in 1594. Early life and education Raselius was born at Hahnbach in the Upper Palatinate of Bavaria around 1563. He was the son of Thomas Raselius or Rasel, a Lutheran preacher. The elder Raselius had studied at Wittenberg University under the Lutheran theologian and reformer Philip Melanchthon – who had Latinised Raselius’s name – before moving to Hahnbach and marrying a woman from nearby Amberg. From 1575 Andreas Raselius was educated at the Amberg Gymnasium and in November 1581 he enrolled at the University of Heidelberg. He gained a baccalaureate within only eight months and was awarded an M.A. in February 1584. Career A strict Lutheran, he declared himself “outraged at the Calvinist machinations” In 1590 Raselius was promoted