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Portraitist: Just pick one medal, Mike.

Praetorius: Nah. I'll just tuck them into my belt. See? How does this look?

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Michael (Schultze, Schultheis, Schultz, etc.) Praetorius - 1571 – 1621

Praetorius was a well-educated, well-traveled and notably lauded music theorist, Kapellmeister for various members of the German nobility, and has been hailed as the best composer of Church music after Bach.  Along with an impressive library of instrumental and choral compositions, Praetorius contributed two monumental works to musical literature, history and theory of his time: the Musae Sioniae, a compendium of over 1200 liturgical compositions, and the Syntagma Musicum, a three volume encyclopedia on contemporary musical theory, instruments and compositional style.

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A decent sort, for a rock star in his own time who went by a single, madey-uppy name, he died relatively young, leaving most of his fortune to charity.

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Es ist ein Ros entsprungen

(Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming)

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Some sources apocryphally credit Praetorius with writing this - the German hymn it's based on predates him, and the haunting, anonymous text comes from even earlier - but most will immediately recognize the harmonization published in his 1609 Musae Sioniae.  If this is your first time hearing it, though, we're envious. For everyone else, just sit back, and let it light candles in the corridors of your Christmas memory palace.

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Bel Canto Fredericton
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