David Gregor Corner, (1585 – 9 January 1648) was a German Benedictine abbot, hymn writer and theologian best known for his influential 1631 Gross Catholisches Gesängbuch ("Great Catholic Hymnal").
[1] Born in Hirschberg, Germany (now Jelenia Góra, Poland), he studied theology at Prague, Graz and Vienna, where he earned a doctorate.
By 1636, Corner was the abbot of Göttweig, where he became a leading figure of the Counter-Reformation, and was made Rector of the University of Vienna in 1638.
[2] In the introduction to his work, he notes that he initially considered leaving out "all hymns found in heretical collections" but decided that they should be included after a colleague reminded him that many of the hymns of Martin Luther and other Protestant composers were derived from earlier Catholic melodies, and "it was in no way desirable to leave out such good old hymns...simply because they have been used by the enemies of the true faith and falsely ascribed to them.
"[5] A separate collection, Geistliche Nachtigal ("Holy Nightingale") was published in 1649, perhaps posthumously.