Online Encyclopedia

MICHAEL PRAETORIUS (1571_1621)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 246 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

MICHAEL PRAETORIUS (1571_1621)  , German musical historian, theorist and composer, was born at Kreuzberg, in Thuringia, on the 15th of
See also:
February 1571 . His
See also:
father's name was Michael Schultheis.' While he was still quite young he visited the university of
See also:
Frankfort on the Oder for three years . Here he studied philosophy, and on the
See also:
death of his
See also:
brother, on whose support he relied, he was given a
See also:
post as organist in the
See also:
town . He acted as kapellmeister at
See also:
Luneburg early in
See also:
life, was engaged first as organist and later as kapellmeister and secretary to the duke of Brunswick-
See also:
Wolfenbuttel, and was eventually rewarded for his long services with the priory of Ringelheim, near
See also:
Goslar . He died at Wolfenbuttel on the 15th of February 1621 . Of his very numerous compositions copies are now very scarce . The most important are : Polyhymnia (15 vols.), Musae Sioniae (16 vols.), and Musa
See also:
Aonia (9 vols.), all written partly to Latin and partly to German words . But more precious than all these is the Syntagma musicum (3 vols. and a cahier of plates, 4to,
See also:
Wittenberg and Wolfenbuttel, 1615-162o) . In the
See also:
original prospectus of the
See also:
work four volumes were promised, but it is certain that no more than three were ever published . The
See also:
fourth
See also:
volume mentioned in Forkel's catalogue is clearly nothing but the cahier of plates attached to vol. ii . The chief value of this very remarkable work lies in the information it gives concerning the condition of instrumental
See also:
music in the early years of the 17th century . The plates include excellent representations of all the musical
See also:
instruments in use at the time they were published, together with many forms even then treated only as antique curiosities .

The work thus throws a

See also:
light upon the earlier forms of instrumental music which to the historian is invaluable . In fact, without the information bequeathed to us by Praetorius it would be impossible to reconstruct in theory the orchestra of the earlier
See also:
half of the 17th century, during which the opera and the
See also:
oratorio both sprang into existence, or even to understand the descriptions
See also:
left us by other less careful writers .

End of Article: MICHAEL PRAETORIUS (1571_1621)
[back]
PRAETORIANS
[next]
PRAETUTTII (also called IIpacrerrioi)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.