CONSTANTIN CHRISTIAN DEDEKIND  

The German poet and composer Constantin Christian Dedekind was educated at the Abbey of Quedlinburg and became a singer in the court chapel at Dresden. From 1666 until his resignation in 1675 he was director of the court musical establishment and distinguished there as a violinist. He devoted his later years to poetry rather than composition and was a member of the literary academy known as the Elbschwanenorden, founded by the Hamburg poet Johann von Rist.

Vocal Music

Dedekind’s principal contribution to music was his collection of sacred and secular songs under the title Aelbianische Musen-Lust, settings of poems by some of the leading writers of the time. His varied vocal works also include a considerable contribution to the German sacred concerto in his Musicalischer Jahrgang und Vesper-Gesang.