Nationality: German

PRAETORIUS, Michael

Born in Creuzburg an der Werra, nr Eisenach, c. Feb 15, 1571
Died in Wolfenbüttel, Feb 15, 1621

Praetorius was an organist and a music theorist in addition to a composer. He wrote Syntagma musicum, an encyclopedic three-volume work exploring the music of his time (very valuable for historians and students of early performance practice).
- The three volumes cover:
  1. History and principles of sacred music
  2. An overview of the musical instruments of Praetorius’ time, especially the organ
  3. A dictionary of musical forms with instruction on compositional techniques.
Praetorius held many significant church and court appointments during his life, and was considered one of the region’s prominent organists.¹
Praetorius left behind a considerable fortune at his death, and he endowed most of it to create a foundation for the poor.
Greatest Hit: Praetorius composed the harmonization of Lo, How a Rose E’er-Blooming that appears frequently in carol collections and hymnals.²

Biography

Pieces

Terpsichore

Baroque German

QUANTZ, Johann Joachim

Born in Oberscheden, Hanover, Jan 30, 1697
Died in Potsdam, July 12, 1773

In addition to being a respected composer and flutist, Johann Joachim Quantz (pronounded “kvants”) remains an influential figure in Western music due to his treatise, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen (Treatise on playing the transverse flute), published in 1752. The comprehensive text offers invaluable information on performance practices of the 18th century.
- Interestingly, only five of its 18 chapters exclusively concern the flute specifically; the majority addresses general issues of interest to instrumentalists.³
Quantz’s musical foundation came from an apprenticeship starting at age 11 with his uncle, Justus Quantz, a town musician in Merseburg. Quantz learned violin, oboe, trumpet, and clavier, the latter of which inspired his interest in composition and harmony.
- In his late teens (1716), Quantz continued his musical education and began fostering his professional career in Dresden. Not long after, Quantz was appointed as oboist for the Dresden Polish Chapel of Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. Around this time, he became adamant about learning the flute (the instrument he would eventually become most famous for playing).
In 1728, Quantz accompanied Augustus II to visit the Prussian court of (then Crown Prince) Frederick the Great. Quantz made a big impression on Frederick and soon became the monarch’s flute teacher.
- When Frederick became King of Prussia in 1740, Quantz joined his court officially as royal flute tutor, composer, and flute maker, where he remained for the rest of his life.
As a composer, Quantz wrote several hundred works, including over 300 flute concertos and over 200 flute sonatas.⁴

Concert for flute with Frederick the Great in Sanssouci by Adolph von Menzel

Learn More

Biography from Elysium Ensemble primarily based on the composer’s autobiography

Pieces

Romantic German

REINECKE, Carl

Born in Altona, June 23, 1824
Died in Leipzig, March 10, 1910

Carl Reinecke (pronunciation) was a respected composer, conductor, educator, pianist, and violinist whose legacy lies most heavily in his leadership of the Leipzig Conservatory.
As a composer, Reinecke is best known for his piano music. Stylistically, he leaned similarly to Robert Schumann.
- In addition to piano works, Reinecke also wrote chamber music, opera and other vocal music, and pieces for orchestra.
In 1897, Reinecke became director of the Leipzig Conservatory. Under his leadership, the institution rose to significant prominence, becoming one of the most sought-after in Europe.
- His students included Edvard Grieg, Christian Sinding, Leoš Janáček, Isaac Albéniz, Johan Svendsen, Max Bruch, and many others.⁵
Fun fact – Reinecke is the earliest-born musician ever to have made a recording of any kind.
- Additional fun fact – While conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, Reinecke conducted the premiere of the full version of Brahms’s German Requiem in 1869.⁶
Historical context: Reinecke was a contemporary of Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner, Clara Schumann, Joseph Joachim, Jacques Offenbach, and many others.

Learn More

Biography from Hyperion Records

Pieces

Concert Piece (Konzertstück), Op. 33

Romantic German

RHEINBERGER, Joseph

Born in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, March 17, 1839
Died in Munich, Nov 25, 1901

Joseph Rheinberger was a composer, organist, conductor, and educator. He is best remembered today for his masterful teaching firmly based on the Classical tradition. Among his students were Humperdinck, Wolf-Ferrari, Thuille, Sandberger, Kroyer, Trunk, the Pembaurs, Schmid-Lindner, Buonamici, Horatio Parker, G.W. Chadwick, and Furtwängler.
As a composer, Rheinberger is best known for his organ works, including his 20 organ sonatas.
Rheinberger’s wife was esteemed German poet Franziska von Hoffnaass. The composer frequently used his wife’s texts for his vocal works.⁷

Biography

Pieces

Classical German

SALOMON, Johann Peter

Born in Bonn, baptized Feb 20, 1745
Died in London, Nov 28, 1815

Son of a Bonn court musician, Salomon was a violinist and composer. He had his first professional position as a violinist at the Bonn court at 13 years old.
While working as a court musician in Prussia, Salomon met C.P.E. Bach, who introduced him to J.S. Bach’s works for unaccompanied violin. Salomon mastered these pieces and they became part of his signature repertoire.
Salomon spent most of his adult career in England, where he appeared as a violinist, conductor, and concert promoter.
- It was in his capacity as an impresario that Salomon arranged for Haydn to visit London in 1790-1 and 1794-5. These are the occasions for which Haydn composed his “London” symphonies.
- Several violin solos in the “London” symphonies were composed especially for Salomon to play.⁸

Biography

Pieces

Romance for Violin and String Orchestra in D Major

Baroque Renaissance German

SCHEIDT, Samuel

Born in Halle, bap. Nov 3, 1587
Died in Halle, March 24, 1654

Scheidt, along with his contemporaries Heinrich Schütz and J.H Schein, is considered preeminent among German composers of the early Baroque.
Scheidt was an excellent organist and an expert on organ construction. Throughout his career he was invited to inspect new organs and supervise organ building projects.⁹

Pieces

La Bergamasca

Baroque Renaissance German

SCHEIN, Johann Hermann

I know the competition is stiff, but in my humble opinion, J.H. Schein had the best hair in all of classical music.

Born in Grünhain, near Annaberg [now Annaberg-Bucholz], Jan 20, 1586
Died in Leipzig, Nov 19, 1630

Schein was a poet as well as a composer.
Schein was one of J.S. Bach’s predecessors as Cantor of the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.
Schein was good friends with his contemporary Heinrich Schütz, who visited Schein on his deathbed and composed a motet at Schein’s request.¹⁰

Pieces

Banquet Music Suite

Romantic German

SCHUMANN, Clara Wieck

Born in Leipzig, Sept 13, 1819
Died in Frankfurt, May 20, 1896

Clara Wieck was a piano prodigy, the daughter of singer Marianne Tromlitz and piano teacher Friedrich Wieck.
- Clara Wieck’s parents divorced when she was five, and Clara spent her childhood under the sole custody of her father, who conducted her entire education and managed her concert career. Clara Schumann acknowledged that her father was somewhat tyrannical but was also grateful for a disciplined musical education.
Clara Wieck made her professional debut as a pianist when she was 11, and she continued to appear as a concert pianist for the rest of her life. Like most piano virtuosos of the time, her repertoire included her own compositions.
In 1840, Clara Wieck married her father’s former piano student Robert Schumann, despite her father’s strong resistance (the couple had to sue Wieck for the right to marry).
After Robert’s death in 1856, Clara Schumann ceased to compose. Instead, she devoted her energy to supported her family as a touring concert pianist, editing her husband’s compositions, and as head of the piano faculty at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt.¹¹

Short biography from the LA Philharmonic

German-language biography and articles from schumann-portal.de (available translated)

Pieces

Romantic German

SCHUMANN, Robert

Portrait of Robert Schumann (c.1850) by Eduard Kaiser

Born in Zwickau, Saxony, June 8, 1810
Died in Endenich, near Bonn, July 29, 1856¹²

Biography

Baroque Renaissance German

SCHÜTZ, Heinrich

Born in Köstritz [now Bad Köstritz], near Gera, baptized Oct 9, 1585
Died in Dresden, Nov 6, 1672

Schütz is considered the first German composer of international significance.
Schütz’s music is notable for its combination of Italian musical styles (learned notably from Monteverdi in Venice), Lutheran musical tradition and idiomatic German text setting.¹³

Pieces

Es steh Gott auf (Let God arise), arranged for sackbut ensemble

Classical Romantic German

SPOHR, Louis

Born in Brunswick, April 5, 1784
Died in Kassel, Oct 22, 1859

Louis Spohr was a violinist, composer, and conductor who was well-known and highly respected during his lifetime. Unfortunately, his music fell into obscurity following his death and has only been resurrected within the last 50 years or so.
Spohr showed immense talent on the violin from an early age and, after some reservations from his father, was soon encouraged to pursue a musical career. As a musician and conductor, Spohr would go on to serve several prominent positions throughout his career, including leader of the orchestra at Gotha, leader of the orchestra at Theater der Wien in Vienna, director of the Frankfurt Opera, and Hofkapellmeister at the city of Kassel.
As a composer, Spohr was quite prolific. He wrote 11 operas, nine symphonies, 15 violin concerti, and many other chamber pieces and Lieder (~300 works in total). Like Beethoven, Spohr’s compositions straddle the Classical and Romantic eras:

“[Spohr’s] work looks… towards both the formalism and clarity of the Classical tradition, and the structural and harmonic experimentation associated with 19th-century Romanticism.”
Grove Music Online

Fun fact – As an important figure in the development of modern violin technique, Spohr invented the violin chinrest.
- Bonus fun fact #1 – Spohr was among the first conductors to use a baton.
- Bonus fun fact #2 – Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde were both composed during Spohr’s lifetime.
Regarding Spohr’s first name – he was christened as “Ludewig,” but given that French versions of names were more fashionable then, he was always known as “Louis.”¹⁴

Learn More

In –depth look into the life and works of the composer from Louis-Spohr.com
Short biography from the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

Pieces

Nonet in F Major, Op. 31

20th Century Late Romantic German

STRAUSS, Richard

Born in Munich, June 11, 1864
Died in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Sept 8, 1949¹⁵

Biography

Pieces

Renaissance Dutch German

SUSATO, Tielmann

Tielman Susato offers his Chanson book to Maria of Hungary, governess of the Netherlands, woodcut from "vingt et six chansons musicales & nouvelles", printed in Antwerp by Tielman Susato, in 1545

First name also spelled “Tielman” or “Tylman”

Born c1510–1515, in Soest, near Dortmund
Died (possibly in Sweden), 1570 or later¹⁶

Biography