Born: November 27, 1654, Ber­lin, Ger­ma­ny.

Died: August 11, 1699, Ber­lin, Ger­ma­ny

Son of Ludwig von Canitz, pri­vy and le­gal coun­sel­or in Ber­lin, Fried­rich stu­died at the Un­i­ver­si­ties of Ley­den and Leip­zig. From 1675-7, he toured It­a­ly, France, Eng­land and Hol­land. In 1677, he was chos­en as Gen­tle­man of the Bed­cham­ber by the Elect­or Fried­rich Wil­helm, and ac­com­pa­nied him in his cam­paigns in Pom­er­an­ia and else­where. In 1680, he was ap­point­ed chief ma­gis­trate of the dis­trict of Zoss­en and Trebb­in, in the Mit­tel­mark, and in 1681 coun­sel­or of the Court and Le­ga­tion. After a suc­cess­ful em­bas­sy to Frank­furt, 1682, he was ap­point­ed in 1683 chief ma­gis­trate of Mühl­en­hoff and Mühl­en­beck. He ex­e­cut­ed ma­ny im­port­ant mis­sions un­der Fried­rich III, was a pri­vy coun­sel­or, and in 1698 was made a bar­on by Em­per­or Le­o­pold I. His hymns were first pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly, with­out his name. They were ed­it­ed by Dr. Jo­achi­m Lange, Rec­tor of the Ber­lin Gym­na­si­um, as Ne­ben­stund­en un­ter­schied­en­er Ge­dichte (Ber­lin: 1700).

Sources

Lyrics

1. Gott, du lässest miche erreichen
   • Father! Hear Me Humbly Praying
2. Seele du musst munter werden
   • Come My Soul, Awake, ’Tis Morning
   • Come, My Soul, Thou Must Be Waking