Born: September 20, 1593 - Halle, Germany
Died: June 3, 1661 (buried) - Altenburg, Germany

Gottfried Scheidt was a German composer and organist, younger brother of Samuel Scheidt. He studied with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in Amsterdam from 1611 to 1615. He continued to study on returning to Halle, where his brother was among his teachers.

In 1617 Gottfried Scheidt became organist to the ducal court at Altenburg. In 1622 he applied - at the instance of his brother, who had refused it - for the post of principal organist at the Marienkirche, Danzig; he had to remain there until 1623 for the applicants’ tests, in which he was passed over in favour of Paul Siefert. He thereupon resumed his position at Altenburg and held it until he retired, because of increasing age and infirmity, on May 5, 1658. He was much respected as an organist and was on excellent terms with the ruling family, who encouraged music even during the Thirty Years War; they gradually built up a small Hofkapelle, which he directed. Apart from his contributions to the set of variations on Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr composed jointly by Sweelinck and others in 1614, no organ music by him is known. His other known works are all vocal and probably all occasional pieces.

Works

Pia vota et hortulanae devotionis amicor, wedding aria (n.p., 1646); MS copy with Ger. title, Lass sich andere lieblich und schöne seyn dünken, Stadtbibliothek, Zwickau
Selig sind die Toten, funeral music for Sophie Elisabeth, Duchess of Saxony (Leipzig, 1650)
Funeral work, 8vv, 1620⁸; ed. G. Harms, S. Scheidt: Gesamtausgabe, iv (Klecken, 1933)
2 works, 4, 6vv, Cantionale sacrum, iii (Gotha, 1648); ed. L Schoeberlein: Schatz des liturgischen Chor- und Gemeindegesangs, iii (Göttingen, 1872)
Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, org, 1614 (incl. 6 variations, 3 by Scheidt, 3 anon., perhaps by Scheidt), D-Bsb [collab. J.P. Sweelinck and others]; ed. H.J. Moser (Kassel, 1953); ed. G. Gerdes, 46 Choräle für Orgel von J.P. Sweelinck und seinen deutschen Schülern (Mainz, 1957)
Der Gerechte, ob er gleich zu zeitlich stürbet, 8vv, bc, lost, formerly Bsb

Source: Grove Music Online, © Oxford University Press 2006, acc. 3/5-06 (Author: Nigel Fortune)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (March 2006)

Use of Chorale Melodies in his works

Title

Chorale Melody

Year

Assemblage of a set of variations by himself, Sweelinck and others on Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr for organ or keyboard.
Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, org (incl. 6 variations, 3 by Scheidt, 3 anon., perhaps by Scheidt), D-Bsb [collab. J.P. Sweelinck and others]; ed. H.J. Moser (Kassel, 1953); ed. G. Gerdes, 46 Choräle für Orgel von J.P. Sweelinck und seinen deutschen Schülern (Mainz, 1957)

Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr

1614

Links to other Sites

Bibliography

MGG1 (C. Mahrenholz)
K. Gabler: Sammelband biographischer Notizen über Altenburger Musiker (D-ALa Z.584)
M. Seiffert: ‘J.P. Sweelinck und seine direkten deutschen Schüler’, VMw, vii (1891), 145–260, esp. 186
M. Seiffert: ‘Über Sweelinck und seine deutschen Schüler’, TVNM, iv/1 (1892), 1–16
A. Werner: ‘Samuel und Gottfried Scheidt: neue Beiträge zu ihrer Biographie’, SIMG, i (1899–1900), 401–45
A. Werner: ‘Neue Beiträge zur Scheidt-Biographie’, SIMG, xiii (1911–12), 297–328
C. Mahrenholz: Samuel Scheidt: sein Leben und Werk (Leipzig, 1924/R)
W. Serauky: Musikgeschichte der Stadt Halle, ii/1 (Halle and Berlin, 1939/R), 8, 21, 46, 108