Michael Praetorius

Complete Organ Works

Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) only reached the age of 50, but left a remarkable wealth of compositions and treatises. From a musicological point of view, he takes up a central function as mediator between the well-established German tradition of Protestant church music and the new monodic, concertante style of Italian composition at the beginning of the 17th century. After his apparently self-instructed musical training, he found his first employment as an organist at St. Mary's in Frankfurt/Oder in 1587, and later at the court of the music-loving prince bishop Henry Julius of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. After the latter's death followed unstable and energy-sapping years. Praetorius' organ music covers exclusively cantus firmus arrangements: three chorale fantasias which fascinate by their variety of style, a pair of variations with a rich figuration technique, and six compositionally innovative hymn arrangements. With regard to style, his oeuvre is rooted in the traditional German organ art and provides major practical performance tips based on partly existing texts.