Ludwig Helmbold, also spelled Ludwig Heimbold, (21 January 1532 – 8 April 1598) was a poet of Lutheran hymns.[1] He is probably best known for his hymn "Nun laßt uns Gott dem Herren", of which J. S. Bach used the fifth stanza for his cantata O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad, BWV 165; Bach also used his words in BWV 73, 79 and 186a.
Helmbold was born in Mühlhausen. He became a professor of Philosophy an der Erfurt University in 1554. In 1571 he was appointed a minister at the Marienkirche in Mühlhausen, later as Superintendent.[2]
Helmbold was crowned poeta laureatus by Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1566 on the Reichstag at Augsburg.[2]
The Mühlhausen cantors Joachim a Burck and Johannes Eccard set many of Helmbold's more than hundred hymns to music. Some of his works were used by Johann Sebastian Bach in his cantatas, such as
A few of his hymns are still included in the German Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch (EG):
In 1998, a street named Helmboldstraße, next to Bonatstraße, was named after him in Mühlhausen.
