Carl J. P. Spitta
1801-1859
Carl Johann Spitta was born August 1, 1801, at Hanover, Germany, the son of Lebrecht Spitta, a bookkeeper and teacher of the French language. Spitta completed his theological training at the University of Gottingen in 1828 and became a Lutheran minister and hymn writer. He wrote 19 hymns in the Zion's Harp, second to Mangold. He served several pastorates, was a tutor and served as a superintendent at Wittingen in 1847. Spitta descended from a French Huguenot family who fled France in 1598 under similar circumstances as Samuel Froehlich's family, who was also of French Huguenot descent. Spitta had begun to write in verse when he was eight years old, along with his brother Heinrich. During his university study, he continued to write songs and secular poems and published a collection of songs. Spitta, a teacher, came under a great conviction when an acquaintance of his so jested at things sacred, even in the presence of his pupils, that their friendship came to an end. After this, a spiritual change came over Spitta and he ceased to write secular pieces. His hymn writing seems to have begun in earnest in 1821. In writing to a friend on May 5, 1826, Spitta related, "In the manner in which I have formerly sang, I sing no more. To the Lord, I consecrate my life and my love and likewise my song. His love is the one great theme of all my songs; to praise and exalt it worthily is the desire of the Christian singer." On September 28, 1859, while sitting at his writing table he died of a heart attack.
Carl Johann Spitta was born August 1, 1801, at Hanover, Germany, the son of Lebrecht Spitta, a bookkeeper and teacher of the French language. Spitta completed his theological training at the University of Gottingen in 1828 and became a Lutheran minister and hymn writer. He wrote 19 hymns in the Zion's Harp, second to Mangold. He served several pastorates, was a tutor and served as a superintendent at Wittingen in 1847. Spitta descended from a French Huguenot family who fled France in 1598 under similar circumstances as Samuel Froehlich's family, who was also of French Huguenot descent. Spitta had begun to write in verse when he was eight years old, along with his brother Heinrich. During his university study, he continued to write songs and secular poems and published a collection of songs. Spitta, a teacher, came under a great conviction when an acquaintance of his so jested at things sacred, even in the presence of his pupils, that their friendship came to an end. After this, a spiritual change came over Spitta and he ceased to write secular pieces. His hymn writing seems to have begun in earnest in 1821. In writing to a friend on May 5, 1826, Spitta related, "In the manner in which I have formerly sang, I sing no more. To the Lord, I consecrate my life and my love and likewise my song. His love is the one great theme of all my songs; to praise and exalt it worthily is the desire of the Christian singer." On September 28, 1859, while sitting at his writing table he died of a heart attack.