Georg Böhm

(1661 - 1733)



German composer and organist. He studied with his father, later at the Gymnasium at Gotha, and from 1684 at the University of Jena. He was in Hamburg in 1693; there he may have had contact with Reincken or Buxtehude. In 1698 he assumed the post of organist at the Johanniskirche in Lüneburg, which he filled until his death. He perhaps had contact with J. S. Bach during Bach's years in Lüneburg (1700-1703); C. P. E. Bach later reported to Forkel that his father had studied Böhm's chorales closely. Among Böhm's works are sacred cantatas and motets (including the motet Nun danket alle gott); a lost St. Luke Passion; a St. John Passion previously attributed to Handel; and numerous organ chorales and chorale preludes, including "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend," "Christ lag in Todesbanden," and "Vater unser im Himmelreich."





VIB: Clavier, Organ and Lute in the German Baroque