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Michael Praetorius

 
Michael Praetorius

 
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Michael Praetorius
 
 
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Michael Praetorius (probably February 15, 1571 – February 15, 1621) was a German composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
, organist
Organ (music)

The organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard played either Manual or Pedal clavier. The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the European classical music....
, and writer about music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant
Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe. It is thought to have begun in 1517 with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses and may be considered to have ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648....
 hymn
Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity/deities, a prominent figure or an epic tale....
s.

Life
He was born Michael Schultze, the youngest son of a Lutheran pastor, in Creuzburg
Creuzburg

Creuzburg is a town on the Werra river in the Wartburgkreis in Thuringia, Germany....
, Germany.






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Praetorius
Michael Praetorius (probably February 15, 1571 – February 15, 1621) was a German composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
, organist
Organ (music)

The organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard played either Manual or Pedal clavier. The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the European classical music....
, and writer about music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant
Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe. It is thought to have begun in 1517 with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses and may be considered to have ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648....
 hymn
Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity/deities, a prominent figure or an epic tale....
s.

Life


He was born Michael Schultze, the youngest son of a Lutheran pastor, in Creuzburg
Creuzburg

Creuzburg is a town on the Werra river in the Wartburgkreis in Thuringia, Germany....
, Germany. After attending school in Torgau
Torgau

Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.Outside Germany, the town is most well-known as the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union coming from the east during the invasio...
 and Zerbst
Zerbst

Zerbst is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until the administrative reform of 2007, Zerbst was the capital of the Anhalt-Zerbst district....
, he studied divinity
Divinity

Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems ? and even by different individuals within a given faith ? to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power, or its attributes or manifestations in the world....
 at the University of Frankfurt (Oder). He served as organist at the Marienkirche in Frankfurt before working at the court in Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel

Wolfenb?ttel is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, located on the Oker river about 13 kilometres south of Braunschweig. It is the seat of the Wolfenb?ttel and of the bishop of the Protestant Lutheran State Church of Brunswick....
 as organist
Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ . An organist may play organ repertoire, play with an musical ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist....
 and (from 1604) as Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister

Kapellmeister is a German language word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound word, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister ....
. From 1613 to 1616 he worked at the Saxon
Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a States of Germany of Germany. Located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states....
 court at Dresden
Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Germany Federal Free state of Saxony. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon triangle metropolitan area....
, where he was exposed to the latest Italian music, including the polychoral
Venetian polychoral style

The Venetian polychoral style was a type of music of the late Renaissance music and early Baroque music eras which involved spatially separate choirs singing in alternation....
 works of the Venetian School
Venetian School

In music history, the Venetian School is a term used to describe the composers working in Venice from about 1550 to around 1610; it also describes the music they produced....
. His subsequent development of the form of the chorale concerto
Chorale concerto

In music, a chorale concerto is a short sacred composition for one or more voices and instruments, principally from the very early Germany Baroque music era....
, particularly the polychoral variety, resulted directly from his familiarity with the music of such Venetians
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
 as Giovanni Gabrieli
Giovanni Gabrieli

Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organ . He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift from Renaissance music to Baroque music idioms....
. Michael Praetorius is entombed in a vault beneath the organ of St Mary's Church in Wolfenbüttel
Wolfenbüttel

Wolfenb?ttel is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, located on the Oker river about 13 kilometres south of Braunschweig. It is the seat of the Wolfenb?ttel and of the bishop of the Protestant Lutheran State Church of Brunswick....
, Germany.

Name


His family name in German appears in various forms including Schultze, Schulte, Schultheiss, Schulz and Schulteis. Praetorius is the Latinized form of the family name.

Works

Praetorius was a tremendously prolific composer, with his music showing the influence of Italian composers as well as his younger contemporary Heinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Sch?tz was a German composer and organ , generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi....
. His works include the nine volume Musae sioniae (1605-10), a collection of over a thousand chorale
Chorale

A chorale was originally a hymn of the Lutheran church sung by the entire congregation. In casual modern usage, the term also includes classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....
 and song arrangements; many other works for the Lutheran church; and Terpsichore
Terpsichore

In Greek mythology, Terpsichore "delight of dancing" was one of the nine Muses, ruling over dance and the dramatic Greek chorus. She lends her name to the word "terpsichorean" which means "of or relating to dance"....
 (1612), a compendium of over 300 instrumental dances, which is both his most widely-known work, as well as his sole surviving secular work. His three volume treatise Syntagma Musicum, published between 1614-20 (including de Organographia at the end of volume II), are detailed texts on contemporary musical practices and musical instrument
Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
s, and are important documents in musicology
Musicology

Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture....
, organology
Organology

Organology is the science of musical instruments and their classification . It embraces study of instruments' history, instruments used in different cultures, technical aspects of how instruments produce sound, and musical instrument classification....
 and the field of authentic performance. (See Praetorius
Praetorius

Praetorius, Pr?torius, Pr?torius was the name of several musicians and scholars in Germany.In Germany of the 16th and 17th centuries it became a fashion that educated people named "Schulze" or "Schulthei?" or "Richter", which means "judge", put their name into the Latin language as "Praetorius", referring to former officials called "Praetor...
 for other composers called Praetorius .)

See also

  • Cornett
    Cornett

    The cornett, cornetto or zink is an early wind instrument, dating from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. It was used in what are now called alta capellas or wind ensembles....
  • Tenor cornett
    Tenor cornett

    The tenor cornett or lizard was a common musical instrument in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. This instrument was normally built in C and the pedal note of the majority of tenor cornetts was the C below middle C....
  • Crumhorn
    Crumhorn

    The crumhorn is a musical instrument of the woodwind family, most commonly used during the Renaissance music period. In modern times, there has been a revival of interest in Early Music, and crumhorns are being played again....
  • Recorder
    Recorder

    The recorder is a woodwind instrument musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes — whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle and ocarina....
  • Shawm
    Shawm

    The shawm was a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument of the woodwind family made in Europe from the late 13th century until the 17th century....
  • Sackbut
    Sackbut

    Sackbut refers to a trombone from the Renaissance and Baroque Eras. 'Sackbut' is often used in recent times to differentiate a historic trombone from a modern one....
  • Trombone
    Trombone

    The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass instrument family. Like all brass instruments, it is a lip-reed aerophone: sound is produced when the player?s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate....


External links

  • , biography on Goldberg, the Early Music Portal.** - facsimiles in The Royal Library, Copenhagen
  • - free easy piano music for Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
  • Listen to at from .