Michael Praetorius was born on February 15, 1571 then died exactly 50 years later, to the day. Music lovers know Praetorius best for his harmonization of the Christmas carol Es ist ein ros entsprungen (Lo how a rose e’er blooming). He was an extremely prolific renaissance composer with a serious, some might say obsessive organizational bent.
Praetorius’s organizational tendency is evident in his large-scale comprehensive publications.
For example, his nine-volume collection, Musae Sioniae includes 1,244 different settings of the chorale ranging from very simple harmonies to multi-choir arrangements. His Terpsichore is a collection of more than 300 instrumental dance works.
Scholars are most grateful to Praetorius for his theoretical work Syntagma musicum. Its three volumes cover the history of music from the time of the Greeks and Romans to the Renaissance, providing a detailed survey of musical instruments and an encyclopedia of all the musical forms. Praetorius carefully indexed the volumes by subject, composer, work, and instrument and provided a 28-page index of his own music. He died before completing a fourth volume about composing.
The Choir of the Church of the Holy Cross in Dresden performs the well-known carol Es ist ein ros entsprungen.
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