Helder, Bartholomäus

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Helder, Bartholomäus

Helder, Bartholomäus, German composer; b. Gotha, 1585; d. Remstedt, near Gotha, Oct. 28, 1635. He studied theology in Leipzig. After serving as a school teacher at a village near Gotha (1607–16), he was for 20 years a pastor at Remstedt. He died of the plague. He publ, a collection of Christmas and New Year’s songs, Cymbalum genethliacum (1614), and a book of Psalm tunes, Cymbalum Davidicum. Many of his secular songs are included in contemporary anthologies. His New Year’s song Das alte Jahr vergangen ist became very popular.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire