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Born: 1646 - Ottern, near Weimar, Thuringia, Germany
Died: 1682 - Jena, Thuringia, Germany |
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Severus Gastorius (his real family name was Bauchspieß = a spit or skewer to run through the stomach; this is similar to Praetorius, the Latin substitution for the actual German name “Schul(t)z(e) – a shortened form of “Schultheiß” = “mayor.” ) attended school in Weimar where his father was a teacher. Beginning in 1667, Gastorius attended the University of Jena.
While in Jena, he became the substitute for the 61-year-old cantor, Andreas Zöll, in 1670 and married his daughter a year later. When Zöll died in 1677, Gastorius took over his position as cantor in Jena.
According to a report documented in the Nordhäuser Hymnal from 1687, it was Samuel Rodigast (1649-1708), in his position as ‘Adjunctus’ in Jena, who in 1675 wrote the text of the chorale 'Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan' specifically for his ill friend, Gastorius. Gastorius then fashioned the chorale melody 'Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan' basing it loosely upon a melody by Werner Fabricius (1633-1679). |
