Richter, Christian Friedrich

Richter, Christian Friedrich, a German hymnologist, was born at Sorau, in Silesia, Oct. 5, 1676. He studied medicine and theology at Halle, and after the completion of his studies was appointed by Francke superintendent of the academy. After the death of his brother, he was also appointed medical attendant of the Orphan house there. In conjunction with his brother, Dr. Christian Sigismund Richter, he discovered the celebrated Halle medicine, prepared from gold, and called essentia dulcis, and which gave a great name to the Orphan house at Halle. The profits of this medicine he devoted to the benefit of the institution. From his twentieth year he composed hymns, and thirty-three excellent and deeply spiritual Christian hymns are attributed to him. Knapp, in his Liederschatz, gives fourteen of his hymns, some of which have also been translated into English, as, Mein Salomo! dein freundliches Regieren, by Dr. Bomberger, in Schaff's Kirchenfreunde, 2, 337 ("Jesus my king! thy mild and kind control"); Huter wird die Nacht der Sunden, in Sacred Lyrics, p. 32 ("O watchman, will the night of sin"); Hier legt mein Sinn vor dir sich nieder, in the Moravian Hymn-book, No. 437 ("My soul before thee prostrate lies"); Gott, den ich als Liebe kenne, by Cox, in Hymns from the German, p. 190 ("O God, whose attributes shine forth in turn"). Richter was also the author of a remarkable medical treatise on the Crucifixion of Christ. He died October 5, 1711. See Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenliedes, 4, 296, 355 sq.; 8, 246 sq., 297, 434, 515; Miller, Singers and Songs of the Church, p. 141 sq.; Jocher, Gelehrten- Lexikon, s.v.; Richter's Leben und Wirken als Arzt, Theolog. und Dichter (published by the Haupt-Verein fur christl. Erbauungsschriften in den preussischen Staaten, Berlin, 1865). (B.P.)