Samuel Scheidt (baptized November 3, 1587 – March 24, 1654) was a German composer, organist, and teacher from the early Baroque era.

Life and career

Samuel Scheidt was born in Halle, Germany. After studying music there, he traveled to Amsterdam to learn from Sweelinck, a well-known Dutch composer whose work greatly influenced Scheidt’s musical style. When Scheidt returned to Halle, he became the court organist and later the Kapellmeister, or musical director, for the Margrave of Brandenburg. Unlike many German musicians, such as Heinrich Schütz, Scheidt stayed in Germany during the Thirty Years' War. He survived by teaching and taking smaller jobs until peace returned, allowing him to return to his role as Kapellmeister. After losing his position due to events involving Wallenstein, Scheidt was appointed in 1628 as the musical director of three churches in Halle, including the Market Church.

Scheidt was the first German composer of international importance for the organ. His work reflects the growth of a new style in northern Germany, which developed largely because of the Protestant Reformation. In southern Germany and other parts of Europe, the influence of Rome remained strong, so much music still followed Italian traditions. However, in areas that became Protestant, musicians created styles that were different from those in other regions.

Scheidt’s music falls into two main types: instrumental music, which includes a lot of keyboard music, mostly for the organ; and sacred vocal music, some of which is performed without instruments (a cappella) and some of which uses a basso continuo or other instruments. In his chorale preludes, Scheidt often used a technique called "patterned variation," where each phrase of the chorale uses a different rhythm, and each variation becomes more complex until the piece reaches its climax. In addition to chorale preludes, Scheidt composed many fugues, suites of dances (often in a cyclic form that shares a common ground bass), and fantasias.

Works

• Scheidt's complete works are published by Breitkopf & Härtel in a series of 16 volumes. These volumes are 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 included in many collections of chorale preludes by various authors. These include: 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); and Chorale Preludes by Old Masters, edited by Karl Straube (Peters). This collection is also available in a reprint edition from Masters Music Publications.
• Free scores by Samuel Scheidt can be downloaded from the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki) and the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP).