Georg Christian Lehms (German: [leːms]; 1684 – 15 May 1717) was a German poet and novelist who sometimes used the pen-name Pallidor. He published poetry, novels, libretti for operas, and the texts of cantatas.

Life

Born in Liegnitz (now in Poland) in 1684, Lehms attended the Gymnasium (high school) in Görlitz and later studied at the University of Leipzig.^[1]

After spending some time at the court of Johann Georg, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, at the end of 1710 Lehms gained a position as court librarian and poet in Darmstadt, capital of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, where by 1713 he had been appointed to the Prince's council.^[1]

Lehms died of tuberculosis on 15 May 1717, aged about thirty-three.^[1][2]

Works

Lehms's "gallant" novels (a term referring to fiction aimed at readers of both sexes) were among the earliest of such productions in German literature and began to appear early in his career under the pen-name of Pallidor. The first of these was Die unglückselige Princessin Michal und der verfolgte David ('The hapless Princess Michal and David pursued'), published in Hanover in 1707, followed in 1710 by Des israelitischen Printzens Absolons und seiner Prinzcessin Schwester Thamar Staats- Lebens- und Helden-Geschichte ('The Heroic Life and History of the Israelite Prince Absolom and his Princess Sister Tamar'), published by Zieger in Nuremberg; in 1712 the series continued with Der weise König Salomo ('Wise King Solomon').^[2]

Lehms made his name with the collection Teutschlands Galante Poetinnen (Germany's Gallant Poetesses).

The title page of Teutschlands Galante Poetinnen sums up the work thus:

Germany's Gallant Poetesses / with Ingenious and Pleasant Samples therefrom; together with an Appendix of those Ladies of Foreign Lands / who likewise made Themselves known to the Interest of the World by the Beauty of their Poetry, and a Preface. Demonstrating that the Female Gender has no less Skill for Studying / than the Male / Performed by Georg Christian Lehms, Franckfurt am Mayn / To be had from Samuel Tobias Hocker. Printed by Anton Heinscheidt. Anno 1715.^[3]

Lehms wrote libretti for operas and cantatas. The cantatas, while being religious works performed as part of the Lutheran services of the Darmstadt court, can be seen as influenced by secular poetry like the cantatas of Neumeister. They were set to music by Christoph Graupner, the Kapellmeister, and his assistant Gottfried Grünewald. The texts were published and it is assumed that Johann Sebastian Bach obtained a copy.^[4] While working at Weimar, Bach set words by Lehms for his first two solo cantatas. He avoided the poet's larger-scale work, going on to use the more intimate texts for another eight of his surviving cantatas. There is also evidence for a lost cantata (Cantata BWV Anh. 209) set to words by Lehms.^[5]

Selected works

• Die unglückselige Princessin Michal und der verfolgte David (The hapless Princess Michal and persecuted David) (Hanover: Nicolaus Förster, 1707)^[2]
• Des israelitischen Printzens Absolons und seiner Prinzcessin Schwester Thamar Staats- Lebens- und Helden-Geschichte (The Heroic Life and History of the Israelite Prince Absolom and of his Princess Sister Tamar)(Nuremberg: Zieger, 1710)^[2]
• Der weise König Salomo, in einer Staats- und Helden-Geschichte (The Royal and Heroic History of Wise King Solomon) (Hamburg & Leipzig: Johann von Wiering, 1712)^[2]
• Das singende Lob Gottes, in einem Jahrgang andächtiger und Gottgefälliger Kirch-Music (The Hymning of God, in an Annual Volume of devotional Church Music pleasing to God) (Darmstadt: Johann Georg John, 1712)
• Teutschlands Galante Poetinnen (Germany's Gallant Poetesses), in two parts, (Frankfurt am Main: Samuel Tobias Hocker, 1714–15; new editions at Darmstadt, Josef Gotthard Blaschke Verlag, 1966, and Leipzig, 1973)

Bach cantatas based on texts by Lehms

The table of cantatas which Bach set to music is sortable by time of first performance, occasion in the liturgical year, BWV catalogue, Incipit and translation of the incipit.^[1]