Andreas Raselius

Andreas Raselius, also known as Andreas Rasel (c. 1563 – 6 January 1602) was a German composer and kapellmeister during the Renaissance. He worked for much of his career as a teacher and cantor in Regensburg, before being appointed as the court conductor of the Elector Palatine in Heidelberg. He is today best noted as the author of a cycle of motets for use throughout the year, the first such cycle to be composed in the German language, which was published in 1594.

Raselius was born at Hahnbach in the Upper Palatinate of Bavaria around 1563. He was the son of Thomas Raselius or Rasel, a Lutheran preacher. The elder Raselius had studied at Wittenberg University under the Lutheran theologian and reformer Philip Melanchthon – who had Latinised Raselius's name – before moving to Hahnbach and marrying a woman from nearby Amberg. From 1575 Andreas Raselius was educated at the Amberg Gymnasium and in November 1581 he enrolled at the University of Heidelberg. He gained a baccalaureate within only eight months and was awarded an M.A. in February 1584.

A strict Lutheran, he declared himself "outraged at the Calvinist machinations" that he witnessed in Heidelberg and moved later in 1584 to Regensburg. There he became a teacher of the 2nd class at the city's Gymnasium Poeticum and was appointed as cantor at the gymnasium and the Neupfarrkirche (), the town's first Lutheran church.

As well as working as a composer and an author of musical theory and historical works, Raselius also published a chronicle history of Regensburg in both Latin and German (though only the latter version has survived). The breadth of his intellectual interests was illustrated by his library, which was catalogued after his death. It was found to comprise nearly 600 titles including over 475 humanistic and literary works, focusing primarily on philosophy and theology, as well as music treatises and works.

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