Michael Praetorius

Michael Praetorius.

Michael Praetorius (probably February 15, 1571 – February 15, 1621) was a German composer, organist, and writer about music. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns.

Life

He was born Michael Schultze, the youngest son of a Lutheran pastor, in Creuzburg, Germany. After attending school in Torgau and Zerbst, he studied divinity at the University of Frankfurt (Oder). He served as organist at the Marienkirche in Frankfurt before working at the court in Wolfenbüttel as organist and (from 1604) as Kapellmeister. From 1613 to 1616 he worked at the Saxon court at Dresden, where he was exposed to the latest Italian music, including the polychoral works of the Venetian School. His subsequent development of the form of the chorale concerto, particularly the polychoral variety, resulted directly from his familiarity with the music of such Venetians as Giovanni Gabrieli. Michael Praetorius is entombed in a vault beneath the organ of St Mary's Church in Wolfenbüttel, 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, his works showing the influence of contemporaries Samuel Scheidt and Heinrich Schütz as well as the Italians. His works include the nine volume Musae sioniae (1605-10), a collection of over a thousand chorale and song arrangements; many other works for the Lutheran church; and Terpsichore (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 I and Syntagma Musicum de Organographia II (1614-20) are detailed texts on contemporary musical practices and musical instruments, and are important documents in musicology, organology and the field of authentic performance. (See Praetorius for other composers called Praetorius .)

References

• Denis Arnold (editor), (1983), New Oxford Companion to Music, Oxford University Press. (Article by editor.)
• Stephan Perreau (1996). Liner notes to Praetorius: Dances from Terpsichore. Naxos 8.553865.

Links

See our image gallery on this topic at: Syntagma Musicum Theatrum Instrumentorum seu Sciagraphia Wolfenbüttel 1620

• Cornett
• Tenor cornett
• Crumhorn
• Recorder
• Shawm
• Sackbut
• Trombone

External links

• Michael Praetorius, biography on Goldberg, the Early Music Portal.
• Michael Praetorius free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores by Michael Praetorius in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Michael Praetorius in the International Music Score Library Project
• Michael Pratorius - facsimiles in The Royal Library, Copenhagen
• Easybyte - free easy piano music for Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
• Listen to free Vocal Evangelical Church Music by Michael Praetorius at "Early Vocal Music Map" from Umeå Akademiska Kör.