Gottfried August Homilius

Gottfried August Homilius (2 February 1714 – 2 June 1785) was a German composer, cantor and organist. He is considered one of the most important church composers of the generation following Bach’s, and was the main representative of the empfindsamer style. Life Homilius was born in Rosenthal, Saxony, the son of a Lutheran pastor, and was educated at the in Dresden. He then studied law at Leipzig University and the organ. It has often been repeated that he was a student of Johann Sebastian Bach, but there is no contemporary written evidence to support this, and strong contextual evidence against it. From 1742 he was organist at the Dresden Frauenkirche, and from 1755 until his death Kreuzkantor, the cantor at the Kreuzkirche in Dresden with the associated responsibility of music director at the Kreuzkirche, the Sophienkirche, and the Frauenkirche and the Kreuzschule. After the destruction of the Kreuzkirche during the Seven Years’ War he worked mainly at the Frauenkirche. Works Homilius predominantly composed church music. He is known for his Passions for services on Good Friday. One of them, a cantata Passion, was printed during his lifetime in 1775. Of four oratorio Passions after