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Tier 3 · vertical & regional
Hieronymus Praetorius
Person · male · Germany · Hamburg · born 1560 · died 1629 · recording since 1999
German composer (1560-1629)
Also known as Hieronymus Prætorius · ヒエロニムス・プレトリウス
Timeline
9 events▣ Album 6◦ Birth 1† Death 1★ Debut release 1
1560s
1620s
1990s
· Debut release
Debut release: Vesper for St. Michael's Day
First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
source: musicbrainz
2000s
2010s
Biography
English biography485 words · 4 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1335794097
Biography
Hieronymus Praetorius the Elder (10 August 1560 – 27 January 1629) was a Northern German composer and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque whose polychoral motets in 8 to 20 voices are intricate and vividly expressive. Some of his organ music survives in the Visby Orgel-Tabulatur, which dates from 1611. (He was not related to the prolific Michael Praetorius, known as a theorist and for Terpsichore, but the large Praetorius family tree produced many distinguished musicians during the 16th and 17th centuries.)
Life
He was born in Hamburg and spent most of his life there. He studied organ with his father (Jacob Praetorius the Elder (1520-1586), also a composer), before moving to Cologne for further study. In 1580 he became organist in Erfurt but remained there only two years. After returning to Hamburg in 1582 he worked with his father as assistant organist at Sankt Jacobi, becoming principal organist in 1586 when his father died, a post he retained until his own death 43 years later. His son, Jacob, was born that same year, and was also destined to become a composer. His younger son Johann was also a composer and organist. His other son Hieronymus became a theologian. In 1596 Hieronymus visited Gröningen where he met Michael Praetorius and Hans Leo Hassler; presumably he became acquainted with their music and, through them, the music of the contemporary Venetian School.
Music and influence
Praetorius wrote Masses and ten settings of the Magnificat in addition to the mostly Latin polychoral motets. Much of his music uses voices divided into several groups, probably the first of its kind in Northern Germany in polychoral style; choir sizes range from 8 to 20, with the voices divided into two, three or four groups. Praetorius must have had sophisticated musicians at his disposal, considering both the amount and the difficulty of music he wrote for these ensembles. While progressive in writing in the Venetian style, he was conservative in using Latin and avoiding the basso continuo, which was eagerly adopted by many other contemporary German composers. Most of his vocal music is a cappella.
Praetorius was also the first composer to compile a collection of four-part German chorales with organ accompaniment, a sound which was to become a standard in Protestant churches for several centuries. The music in the collection was compiled from four churches in Hamburg; 21 of the 88 settings are of his own composition. Some of his organ compositions survive, including nine settings of the Magnificat, which are in a highly contrapuntal cantus firmus style. In addition to these settings, numerous anonymous pieces in north German collections of the time are now attributed with reasonable certainty to Hieronymus Praetorius.
References and further reading
Article "Hieronymus Praetorius," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
Manfred Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1947. ISBN 0-393-09745-5
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 10 | 58.3th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 6 | 79.7th |
| Studio albums | 6 | 86.1th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 9 | 85.5th |
| Recording span (years) | -370 | 0.9th |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (6 release groups · 6 studio albums)
Albums · 6
1999 · studio album
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Tracklist · 15 tracks · 1:09:22
1Veni, Sancte Spiritus1:312Dum praeliaretur Michael (1)5:033Dixit Dominus4:174Laudate pueri Dominum4:255Laudate Dominum3:196Gloria patri0:477Dum praeliaretur Michael (2)4:548Lectio2:109Christe Sanctorum7:5410Factum est silentium (1)5:5911Magnificat anima mea23:0912Factum est silentium (2)1:0813Salutatio and Collecta1:2414Benedicamus0:4815Postludium super Veni creator Spiritus2:34San Marco in Hamburg: Motets by Hieronymus Praetorius
2008 · studio album
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Tracklist · 13 tracks · 1:05:10
1Jubilate Deo omnis terra à 124:032Ecce Dominus veniet à 85:363Hodie Christus natus est à 63:024Ab oriente venerunt Magi à 56:035Nunc dimittis servum tuum à 84:426O bone Jesu à 66:507Magnificat quarti tino à 811:158Wie lang, o Gott à 53:259Surrexit pastor bonus à 53:0310Ascendo ad patrem meum à 62:3311Hodie completi sunt à 86:1412Adesto unus Deus à 53:4613Cantate Domino canticum novum à 84:382008 · studio album
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Tracklist · 11 tracks · 1:08:28
1Magnificat quarti toni10:242O bone Jesu7:523A solis ortus cardine / Beatus auctor saeculi8:204Benedictio mensae1:455Gaudete omnes3:316Magnificat secundi toni9:497O vos omnes3:458Laudate Dominum3:249Videns Dominus4:2410Oratio Dominica2:3311Magnificat quinti toni / Joseph, lieber Joseph mein / In dulci iubilo12:412012 · studio album
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Tracklist · 20 tracks · 2:15:35
Disc 11Magnificat primi toni7:032Magnificat secundi toni6:273Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist7:024Magnificat tertii toni10:235Magnificat quarti toni9:006Lucis Creator optime4:517Veni Creator Spiritus6:288Veni Redemptor Gentium5:099Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam8:22Disc 21Magnificat quinti toni10:162Magnificat sexti toni8:143Kyrie summun6:104Gloria in excelsis Deo / Et in terra summum5:115Sanctus summum2:246Agnus Dei3:447Sequentia: Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis gratia3:028In exitu Israel de Aegypto (Psalm 113)2:409Magnificat germanice3:2510Magnificat septimi toni14:1511Magnificat octavi toni11:29Missa in Festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis
2018 · studio album
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Tracklist · 17 tracks · 1:10:25
1Adesto unus Deus3:462Missa in Festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis: I. Kyrie eleison4:513Missa in Festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis: II. Christe eleison3:384Missa in Festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis: III. Kyrie eleison2:475Missa in Festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis: IV. Gloria in excelsis Deo5:386Salutatio and Collecta4:257Gradualia "Domine, Dominus noster"8:338O Lux beata Trinitas5:319Missa in festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis: V. Credo. Wir gläuben all an einen Gott5:2010Benedicam Dominum in omni tempore3:4911Praefatio "Dominus vobiscum"3:3012Missa in festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis: VI. Sanctus, Benedictus "Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth"3:1113Pater Noster2:3514Vaterunser, Einsetzungsworte1:3215Missa in festo Sanctissimae Trinitatis: VII. Agnus Dei5:0316Salutatio, Kollekte, Segen Der Herr sey mit euch2:0017Te Deum Patrem ingénitum4:16Motets in 8, 10, 12, 16 & 20 Parts
2019 · studio album
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Tracklist · 16 tracks · 1:40:20
Disc 11Dixit Dominus a 125:492Nunc dimittis a 87:343Sequentia: Grates nunc omnes8:044Angelus ad pastores ait a 125:595Ecce Dominus veniet a 84:526Decantabat populus a 205:457Kyrie summum9:128Gloria summum10:28Disc 21Laudate Dominum a 84:372Sanctus summum4:293Agnus Dei summum5:344Iubilate Deo a 124:595Ecce quam bonum a 84:066Levavi oculos meos a 105:287Sequentia: Victimae paschali laudes7:478Exultate iusti a 165:37
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Hieronymus Praetorius head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 10 | 58.3th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 6 | 79.7th |
| Studio albums | 6 | 86.1th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 9 | 85.5th |
| Recording span (years) | -370 | 0.9th |
| Genres | 1 | 56th |
Awards & honours
Where this record comes from
aliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/44d1ecbf-7327-4488-b9d4-41281eca73d4discography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/44d1ecbf-7327-4488-b9d4-41281eca73d4core—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q565543seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Praetoriusbiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Praetorius
Why this artist is in the database
- List of composers by name
Tier rule: curated genre/region list
Image: no portrait (not displayed: the licence credit is missing)
Wikidata: Q565543 · MusicBrainz: 44d1ecbf-7327-4488-b9d4-41281eca73d4
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