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Samuel Scheidt

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Samuel Scheidt was a German composer, organist and teacher of the early Baroque. He was baptised in 1587 in Halle and died there in 1654. His parents belonged to the town's prominent circles and all three sons became organists. Samuel was the most important of the three. As early as 1603 he was organist at the Moritzkirche. In 1607 and 1608 he studied in Amsterdam with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, whose style can clearly be heard in his work.

Music and breakthrough

Back in Halle he became court organist and later Kapellmeister to the Margrave of Brandenburg. Unlike many German musicians, he stayed in Germany during the Thirty Years' War. He kept going by teaching and with smaller jobs. When he lost his post with the margrave in 1628, he became musical director of three churches in Halle, including the Marktkirche. In 1624 his Tabulatura nova was published, a collection of organ music that is still published and recorded today.

Influence

His work falls into two groups: instrumental music, mainly for organ, and sacred vocal music, sometimes a cappella, sometimes with basso continuo. In his chorale settings he often used variation technique: each line of the chorale was given its own rhythmic motif and each variation became richer than the last, up to the climax. He also wrote fugues, dance suites and fantasias. Scheidt is regarded as the first German organ composer of international significance and as a representative of the new North German style that emerged after the Reformation.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a part of Tabulatura nova on organ. Try to hear how the same melody keeps coming back, each time with a different rhythm and richer ornamentation.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists