Summary: Biography of the author of the "new" text from 1701.
When the old, worn painting from 1463 was replaced, the painter - Anton Wortmann - carefully studied and copied backgrounds, clothing and buildings.
In contrast, it doesn't appear that Schlott paid any attention to the remains of the medieval Low German text before he replaced it with his new High German text. Schlott wrote his poem in the fashion of the time, i.e. Alexandrines, meaning that each line consists of 12-13 syllables with the beat on every second:
Heran, ihr Sterblichen! das Glas ist aus, heran,
Vom Höchsten in der Welt bis zu dem Bauersmann!
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| Lübeckischer Todten-Tantz. |
Schlott was born in Danzig (Gdansk), 13/2 1666, and came to Lübeck in 1699 where he got married. Two years later he became married again, so presumably he was a widower when he wrote his dance of death in 1701.
The next years Schlott published his text in several books and added a conclusion: thesis "Der Tod ist kein Tantz" and antithesis "Der Tod ist ein Tantz".
The next year, 1703, the St. Mary's Church paid him his fee for the new text. Both Mantels and Meyer are outraged over the size of the fee but it's hard to be envious since Schlott died 23/3 the same year.
The posterity has not been kind to the works of Schlott. The old text evoked the fear of Death and Hell (and contained quite a bit of social criticism). Schlott's text reflects the feeling of a new age where life is a vale of tears and people yearn for the long sleep. Take for instance Death to the baby:
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| Den Lybekske Dødning-Dantz. |
It's probably all this talk about sleep - combined with the perpetual badaam-badaam beat - that made a German philologist call them "langzeilige und langweilige" (long-lined and boring). Mantels calls the poem "schlectes Machwerk" (lousy botch) and adds that the poem "werden einem heutigen Leser nur widerwillen erregen" (would excite nothing but aversion in a modern [1866] reader).
Harsh words indeed. There's nothing to indicate that the popularity of the painting decreased in the last 241 years, when Schlott's text had replaced the old one. Schlott's texts were published by himself and a great number of copists.
In 1738 Schlott's text was translated into Danish - by Lydert Höyer - still in Alexandrines. That book is available in the Danish section - here (use the navigation arrows of your browser to get back). In 1768 Thomas Nugent published his travelogue with a translation of Schlott's text into English.
Dansk 
Lübeck's dance of death
St. Mary's Church
Nathanael Schlott