Editing Samuel Scheidt

{{short description|German composer and organist (1587–1654)}}
{{more citations needed|date=April 2021}}
[[File:Samuel Scheidt.jpg|thumb|Samuel Scheidt]]


'''Samuel Scheidt''' (baptized  3 November 1587 &ndash; 24 March 1654) was a German [[composer]], [[Organ (music)|organist]] and teacher of the early [[Baroque music|Baroque]] era.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Samuel Scheidt {{!}} German composer {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Scheidt|access-date=2021-12-11|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref>
==Life and career==
Scheidt was born in [[Halle, Saxony-Anhalt|Halle]], and after early studies there, he went to [[Amsterdam]] to study with [[Sweelinck]], the distinguished [[Netherlands|Dutch]] composer, whose work had a clear influence on Scheidt's style.  On his return to Halle, Scheidt became court organist, and later [[Kapellmeister]], to the [[Margrave]] of [[Brandenburg]].  Unlike many German musicians, for example [[Heinrich Schütz]], he remained in Germany during the [[Thirty Years' War]], managing to survive by teaching and by taking a succession of smaller jobs until the restoration of stability allowed him to resume his post as Kapellmeister. When Samuel Scheidt lost his job because of [[Wallenstein]], he was appointed in 1628 as musical director of three churches in Halle, including the [[Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen|Market Church]].

Scheidt was the first internationally significant German composer for the organ, and represents the flowering of the new north German style, which occurred largely as a result of the [[Protestant Reformation]].  In south Germany and some other countries of Europe, the spiritual and artistic influence of [[Rome]] remained strong, so most music continued to be derivative of Italian models.  Cut off from Rome, musicians in the newly Protestant areas readily developed styles that were much different from those of their neighbours.

Scheidt's music is in two principal categories:  instrumental music, including a large amount of keyboard music, mostly for organ; and sacred vocal music, some of which is ''[[a cappella]]'' and some of which uses a [[basso continuo]] or other instrumental accompaniment. In his numerous [[chorale prelude]]s, Scheidt often used a "patterned variation" technique, in which each phrase of the chorale uses a different rhythmic motive, and each variation is more elaborate than the previous one, until the climax of the composition is reached.  In addition to his chorale preludes, he wrote numerous [[fugue]]s, suites of dances (which were often in a [[cyclic form]], sharing a common [[ground bass]]) and [[fantasia (music)|fantasia]]s.

==Works==
* Scheidt's complete works are published by [[Breitkopf & Härtel]] in a series of 16 volumes edited by Gottlieb Harms, Christhard Mahrenholz and Christoph Wolff. 
* A new scholarly edition of Scheidt's ''Tabulatura nova'' (1624) is edited by [[Harald Vogel]] ([[Breitkopf & Härtel]], 1994).
* Scheidt's works are represented in many collections of chorale preludes by various authors, including:
** ''The Church Organist's Golden Treasury'' (three volumes), edited by Carl F. Pfatteicher and Archibald T. Davison. (Theodore Presser Co., Pennsylvania)
** ''80 Chorale Preludes from the 17th and 18th Centuries'', edited by [[Hermann Keller]] (Peters)
** ''Chorale Preludes by Old Masters'', edited by Karl Straube (Peters) (Also available in a reprint edition from Masters Music Publications)
* Free scores are available for download from:
** {{ChoralWiki}}
** {{IMSLP|id=Scheidt, Samuel|cname=Samuel Scheidt}}

==References and further reading==
* [[Manfred Bukofzer]], ''Music in the Baroque Era''.  New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1947.  {{ISBN|0-393-09745-5}}
* 'Samuel Scheidt', ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie.  20 vol.  London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.  {{ISBN|1-56159-174-2}}
*[[Cleveland Johnson]], "In the Trenches with Johann and Caspar Plotz: a rediscovered Gebrauchstabulatur from the Scheidt Circle," 2001. [http://acad.depauw.edu/~cjohnson/PLOTZ/paperframe.htm Online]

==See also==
* [[German organ schools]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheidt, Samuel}}
[[Category:1587 births]]
[[Category:1654 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century German classical composers]]
[[Category:German Baroque composers]]
[[Category:German male classical composers]]
[[Category:German classical organists]]
[[Category:Organists and composers in the North German tradition]]
[[Category:Musicians from Halle (Saale)]]
[[Category:Pupils of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck]]
[[Category:17th-century German male musicians]]
[[Category:German male classical organists]]