Johannes Zahn
Johannes Christoph Andreas Zahn (1 August 1817 in Eschenbach/Pegnitz – 17 February 1895 in Neuendettelsau) was a German theologian and musicologist best known for his opus Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder, a critical anthology of almost 9,000 hymn melodies developed and used in German Lutheran churches.
Also recorded as Johannes Christoph Andreas Zahn · Johann Christoph Andreas Zahn
Johannes Zahn
- Born
- 1817 · Eschenbach.
- Died
- 1895 · Neuendettelsau.
- Nationality
- Germany
- Occupation
- musicologist · writer · music theorist · composer · pastor · hymnologist · theologian · pedagogue
- Fields
- music · musicology · theology
- Languages
- German
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wikidata · Q78273 · wikipedia · Johannes Zahn
In this article
Biography
Biography
Johannes C. A. Zahn was the son of the Eschenbach teacher and cantor Johannes Zahn. Between 1832 and 1837 he attended the Nuremberg high school, and studied afterwards in Berlin to obtain his degree in theology in 1841. After attending the Predigerseminar in Munich, he became a house teacher for the residence of Gustav Schulze, a prominent merchant. In 1847 he was named teacher and prefect of the Royal Schullehrer Seminar in Altdorf bei Nürnberg, and became its head in 1854. Johannes Zahn dedicated himself particularly to the recovery and critical revision of melodies and hymns developed during and after the Reformation, which he started publishing in 1889, in Gütersloh. The classification system he developed is still used by hymnologists worldwide, in the form Zahn ###, where the number represents the location of the melody or hymn in Zahn's anthology. Zahn also contributed articles to journals like Siona, Hymnologie, and Euterpe. Zahn also composed hymns, and is known for writing the original melody Dein König kommt in niedern Hüllen, which appears today as number 14 in the German Protestant hymnal.
Works
Works
• Handbüchlein für angehende Cantoren und Organisten, Nürnberg (1871) • Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder, aus den Quellen geschöpft und mitgeteilt von Johannes Zahn (6 volumes), Verlag Bertelsmann, Gütersloh (1889–93). [further edited by the Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Edition des deutschen Kirchenlieds. Hildesheim, New York: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1998. 6 volumes.] • Die Melodien des Deutschen Evangelischen Gesangbuches in vierstimmigem Satze für Orgel und für Chorgesang aus Auftrag der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenkonferenz zu Eisenach (with G. Freiherr von Tucher and Immanuel Faißt), Stuttgart (1854) • Vierstimmiges Melodienbuch zum Gesangbuch der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche in Bayern, Erlangen (1855)
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the headings Johannes Christoph Andreas Zahn and Johann Christoph Andreas Zahn. His recorded language was German. His recorded confession was Lutheranism.
Identity
Identity
Johannes Zahn is recorded as musicologist, writer, music theorist, composer and pastor.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1895
Johannes Zahn died at Neuendettelsau.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Eschenbach.
Birth place
Neuendettelsau.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Johannes Zahn”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q78273: Johannes Zahn
General reference · Wikidata
Text attribution
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Text attribution
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The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Johannes Zahn, revision 1215763761 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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reference work
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General reference
People, houses and institutions
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People, houses and institutions
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Died at
1- NeuendettelsauPlace
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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