Gottfried Scheidt (20 September 1593 – 3 June 1661) was a German composer and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

. Born in Halle, he moved to

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in 1611 to study with

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck ( ; April or May, 1562 – 16 October 1621) was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard comp ...

, returning home in 1615 to further study with his older brother

Samuel Scheidt Samuel Scheidt (baptized 3 November 1587 – 24 March 1654) was a German composer, organist and teacher of the early Baroque era. Life and career Scheidt was born in Halle, and after early studies there, he went to Amsterdam to study with ...

and others. He was appointed organist to the

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court in 1617, and held the post until his retirement on 5 May 1658. He was successful and respected, and aside from playing the organ, directed the newly founded

Hofkapelle A court chapel (German: Hofkapelle) is a chapel (building) and/or a chapel as a musical ensemble associated with a royal or noble court. Most of these are royal (court) chapels, but when the ruler of the court is not a king, the more generic "co ...

, despite the strictures of the

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. He was unsuccessful in his application, in 1622/1623, for the post of principal organist of the Marienkirche in Danzig, which his brother had declined and which eventually went to

Paul Siefert Paul Siefert (variants: Syfert, Sivert, Sibert; 23 May 1586 – 6 May 1666) was a German composer and organist associated with the North German school. Biography He was born in Danzig (Gdańsk), Royal Prussia (a fief of the Crown of Poland) to ...

. His only known organ compositions are in a set of

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individual ...

on " Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" made collaboratively in 1614 by Sweelinck and others; the six variations include three by Scheidt and three anonymous, which may be by him; this work belongs to the tradition of the North German school. Modern editions are found by H.J. Moser (Kassel, 1953), and G. Gerdes, in ''46 Choräle für Orgel von J.P. Sweelinck und seinen deutschen Schülern'' (Mainz, 1957). His other compositions are all occasional vocal works: ''Pia vota et hortulanae devotionis amicor'', a

wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...

aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

(1646); '' Selig sind die Toten'',

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music for Sophie Elisabeth, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Leipzig, 1650); another funeral work (1620), in ''S. Scheidt: Gesamtausgabe'' IV, ed. G. Harms (Klecken, 1933); and two works in ''Cantionale sacrum'' III (Gotha, 1648), in ''Schatz des liturgischen Chor- und Gemeindegesangs'' III, ed. L. Schoeberlein (Göttingen, 1872).

Sources

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Nigel Fortune Nigel Cameron Fortune (5 December 1924 – 10 April 2009) was an English musicologist and political activist. Along with Thurston Dart, Oliver Neighbour and Stanley Sadie he was one of Britain's leading musicologists of the post-World War II ...

, 'Scheidt, Gottfried', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-06-08) * C. Mahrenholz: ''Samuel Scheidt: sein Leben und Werk'' (Leipzig, 1924) {{DEFAULTSORT:Scheidt, Gottfried 1593 births 1661 deaths German Baroque composers German classical organists Organists and composers in the North German tradition Musicians from Halle (Saale) 17th-century German classical composers German male classical composers 17th-century German male musicians German male classical organists