Samuel Scheidt

Organist and composer who, with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, influenced the Baroque organ style of northern Germany. Scheidt's subjection of the chorale melody to musical variations and his use of different combinations of voices and instruments in the different stanzas foreshadowed the later Lutheran cantatas based on chorales. Scheidt's work, though influenced by Sweelinck, shows his own skill in counterpoint. His Tablatur-Buch (1650) contains harmonized accompaniments for 100 sacred songs and psalms, pointing to the growing practice of congregational singing in Lutheran churches.