Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) was a German composer whose long career extended from the late Renaissance well into the Baroque era. A composer of a large body of vocal and choral music, Schütz was a major influence on the development of J.S. Bach, and his mixing of Giovanni Gabrieli's polychoral style and Protestant church music yielded works of a highly dramatic nature. He traveled widely and served at many courts across Europe. Schütz composed and published several collections of his sacred music, including the Psalmen Davids and the Symphoniae sacrae, though many of his pieces went unpublished and are presumed lost.