Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer

Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer (11 July 1635 – 8 September 1699) was a German jurist, poet, satirist and Protestant hymn writer.

Johann Sebastian Bach used a stanza from his hymn "Gott fähret auf gen Himmel" to conclude his Ascension Oratorio.

In 1657 he accepted a position as Hofmeister in Berlin where he had contact to poets such as Paul Gerhardt, Georg Philipp Harsdörffer and Andreas Tscherning.

[3][4] Later versions appear under the title "Der Herr fährt auf gen Himmel", for example the "Evangelisches Gesangbuch zum kirchlichen Gebrauche" (Protestant hymnal for church usage) of 1836,[5] sometimes with six stanzas.

[6] Johann Sebastian Bach used the hymn's seventh stanza, "Wenn soll es doch geschehen", to conclude his Ascension Oratorio.