| Caspar Ziegler | |
| Image Upright: | 0.8 |
| Birth Date: | 15 September 1621 |
| Birth Place: | Leipzig |
| Death Place: | Wittenberg |
| Education: | |
| Occupation: |
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| Organization: | University of Wittenberg |
Caspar Ziegler, also Kaspar Ziegler, (15 September 1621 – 17 April 1690) was a German jurist, poet, hymnwriter and composer. He was the Rektor of the University of Wittenberg.
Ziegler was born in Leipzig the son of Caspar Ziegler sr., a lawyer and Prokonsul in the town council, and his wife Anna (née Walter, the widow of Johann Kürsten). He studied at the University of Leipzig.
In 1638, Ziegler was a Baccalaureus of philosophy, permitted to lecture at the university. His father requested him to move to the University of Wittenberg in 1641, where he heard lectures by August Buchner,, Johann Sperling and . As his parents wished him to study theology, he also studied with Hieronymus Kronmeyer and Johann Hülsemann. In November 1652, he began to study law in Leipzig with Polycarp Wirth and Andreas Eckholt. In 1655, he received the doctor's degree in law.
In 1654, he was appointed professor at the University of Wittenberg, at the same to the court. In 1661, he was appointed Rektor (director) of the University. He reorganized its library which had been destroyed during the Thirty Years' War.
He died in Wittenberg after an infection from a broken leg, and was buried in the Schlosskirche on 24 April 1690.
Some poems by Ziegler were set to music. He was a friend of the composers Johann Rosenmüller and Heinrich Schütz and collaborated with them. Ziegler wrote a treatise about madrigals, Von den Madrigalen, published in 1653, as requested by Schütz His poem "Ich freue mich in dir" (I rejoice in you) became a hymn and was the basis for Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale cantata for Christmas Ich freue mich in dir, BW 133.
Among his works are: