Gottfried Ephraim Scheibel

Gottfried Ephraim Scheibel (1696–1759) was a German theologian and writer about music. He studied theology in Leipzig and from 1736 taught at the Elizabeth-Gymnasium in his home town of Breslau. His most famous treatise, Zufallige Gedancken von der Kirchenmusic (Random Thoughts about Church Music), was published in 1721 and presents a strong defense of the role of music in the Lutheran service, in particular music derived from opera. By way of example, he demonstrates the use of the parody technique—replacing secular texts with sacred ones, while keeping the music the same—using the music of Georg Philipp Telemann.