Michael Praetorius (b. 1571-d. 1621)

The son of a Lutheran pastor, Praetorius spent most of his professional life as an organist, kantor, and kapellmeister in the Lutheran cities and states of northern Germany. He traveled widely in Germany and earned renown as a virtuoso organist, organ builder, composer, and assiduous music scholar. He is widely considered a principal founder of German baroque music. As a composer, he published the nine-volume Musae Sioniae, which contains 1,244 chorale settings. Praetorius was considered the most important organizer of Protestant music since the time of Martin Luther, and most of his sacred music is based on Protestant chorales. He wrote other liturgical music and a set of 312 dances (Terpsichore). His three-volume treatise, Syntagma musicum, is an invaluable compendium of information on German music, musical instruments, and performance.