What is Michael Praetorius?
[[File:Michael Praetorius.jpg|thumb|Michael Praetorius.]] '''Michael Praetorius''' (born Creuzburg an der Werra, near [[Eisenach]] 15 February 1571? ; died [[Wolfenbüttel]], 15 February 1621) was a [[Germany|German]] [[composer]], [[Organ (music)|organist]] and [[music theory|music theorist]]. He was one of the most important composers of his day and he wrote lots of different kinds of music. A lot of his music is based on [[hymn]]s of the [[Protestant|Protestant church]]. We are not quite certain about the date of his birth. He was born at a time when there was a lot of [[argument]] about [[religion]] in Germany. His father was a strict [[Lutheran]] and lost his job more than once because of his [[belief]]s. We know very little about the life of Praetorius. He seems to have gone to the Lateinschule (“Latin School”) in [[Torgau]] where he had music lessons from Michael Voigt. He probably never had music lessons after he left school. Then he went to the [[University]] of [[Frankfurt an der Oder]]. There Praetorius graduated in [[divinity]]. Afterwards he found a job as organist to the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. He soon earned a good salary. He married in 1603 and had two sons. Although he had his job in Wolfenbüttel for many years he also worked a lot in [[Dresden]] where he met [[Heinrich Schutz|Heinrich Schütz]] and in [[Magdeburg]] where he met [[Samuel Scheidt]]. His health was not good, possibly because he worked so hard. When he died he left a lot of money to the poor. == His music == Praetorius wrote a very large amount of music. Much of it has been lost. He wrote a collection of [[France|French]] dances called ''Terpsichore'' for a small group of instruments. These are very happy pieces and are very popular today. A lot of his music is based on Protestant hymns, written for the services in the Lutheran church. He liked to write music in which two groups of singers or instrumentalists alternate (take it in turns to sing/play). His music for choir, which includes many [[motet]]s, shows him to be one