Sigmund Hemmel (* approx. 1520; † 1565) was a Württemberg composer and court kapellmeister in Stuttgart. In 1544 Hemmel is first documented as a tenor player in the Stuttgart court chapel under Duke Ulrich of Württemberg. From New Year's Day 1552 he took over the post of Kapellmeister there. In 1554/55, Hemmel was searching for singers. He also gave four vocal pieces to the "Sängerei". According to a (debt?) statistic (dated in 1565/66), we learn that "Sigmund Hemmel, tenorist and altoist, [...] only lived [another] half a year. His housewife [wife] was [nevertheless] given the whole salary of 50 guilders according to the receipt". At the same time, Hemmel's widow Barbara was forgiven a remaining debt of 35 florins because he "composed the entire German Psalter in four voices [and] gave it to our gracious prince and lord" [This is Christoph von Württemberg (* May 12, 1515 in Urach; † December 28, 1568 in Stuttgart), regency: 1550-1568]. Hemmel must have died at the end of August 1565.
Hemmel's most important work is certainly "Der gantz Psalter Davids", a complete four part setting of the Psalter in German-language rhymes by various text writers (a total of 151 settings). The work was published posthumously (1569) "Getruckt zu Tübingen / bey Ulrich Morharts Wittib". In addition, several other compositions have survived in manuscript, such as the motet "Da pacem Domine" (Gib Frieden, Herr) and the mass composition "Missa super Ker wider Glück mit Freuden" (Mass for "Kehr wieder, Glück mit Freuden").
