Strattner, Georg Christoph 1645 - 1704

He received his first music lessons from his cousin Samuel Capricornus, music director at the Holy Trinity Church in Preßburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia). At the age of 14 he was a member of the boys' choir at the Court Chapel in Stuttgart. In 1666 he became music director at the court of ''Baden-Durlachschen'' until 1682 when he apparently at the intercession of Phillip Jacob Speners took the over the position of music director at the ''Barfüßerkirche'' (church) which was the main Protestant church in the city of Frankfurt am Main. In 1691 he was fired as a result of committing adultry and banished from the city. He failed with numerous attempts during the following years to achieve his reinstatement. Only in 1694 did he secure a new position initially as a tenorist and then on October 1, 1695, as the successor to August Kühnel as ''Particulier Kammermusikus'' and assistant music director of Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. In this capacity he also represented the often ill music director Johann Samuel Drese (1644-1714).

He composed numerous cantatas of which approximately 20 have been preserved in handwritten form and church hymns which are often characterized by aria type melodies. In 1691, he published in a new edition the national songs and the psalms of thanksgiving by Joachim Neanders. He expanded the total number of songs by Neanders from 56 to 64 and contributed all of the melodies. One finds among them to this day in hymn books the melody to "Himmel, Erde, Luft und Meer" (Heaven, Earth, Air and Sea).