Johann Olearius (1611–1684)
German hymnwriter
Johann Olearius (17 September 1611 – 24 April 1684) was a German hymnwriter, preacher, and academic.
Olearius taught philosophy at his alma mater, the University of Wittenberg. He also served as a court preacher and chaplain. He compiled "one of the largest and most important German hymnals" of the 1600s. His hymn "Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott" is the base for the chorale cantata Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, BWV 129, by Johann Sebastian Bach, who also included a stanza of "Tröstet, tröstet meine Lieben" (Comfort, comfort ye my people) in his cantatas Freue dich, erlöste Schar, BWV 30.
Johann was a member of a large, extended family of pastors, theologians, professors and lawyers in Halle, Leipzig and Weissenfels. His elder brother was Johann Gottfried Olearius.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q87418. VIAF identifies the subject as 52123211. The Library of Congress control number is n88085397. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1611 and 1684.
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This entry incorporates text from “Johann Olearius (1611–1684)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.