Hieronymus Praetorius III
Hieronymus Praetorius III (1614-1629) was a German organist and composer. He was born to Jacob Praetorius and Margaretha von Kampen.
The early death of the highly talented first-born son was particularly tragic. Hieronymus Praetorius III was already considered a fully qualified organist and composer when he died on the 25th of November 1629, only three days after his fifteenth birthday.[1]
A few pieces by him are known. In addition to a 6-part marriage motet Caecilia virgo gloriosa...[2], a setting of the Magnificat Primi Toni (Zellerfeld Organ Tablatures vol.1 p.36-43: Magnificat / 1 Toni / Hieronymi / Praetorij.) has been found by Klaus Beckmann to have been composed by him[3].
History
[4]When the Zellerfeld Organ Tablatures were discovered in 1955, a Magnificat Primi Toni by a certain Hieronymi Praetorij., it was connected with Hieronymus Praetorius I by Gustav Fock and Werner Breig with minimal objections.
However, Klaus Beckmann appears to be the first musicologist to have raised more serious questions about the authorship of this piece in his article Echtheitsprobleme im Repertoire des hanseatischen Orgelbarocks. Actually, it seemed even more unlikely that this piece could have been composed by the same Hieronymus Praetorius as had composed the Magnificat settings in the Visby Tablature. There were unreconcilable differences between the two pieces; most notably, the Zellerfeld Tablature Magnificat was written in four parts, while the Magnificats in the Visby Tablature were written in a more advanced 5-part writing style. For this reason, it seemed unlikely that this could be a later work by the same composer.
At this point, the existence of Hieronymus Praetorius III was not known to musicologists. However, around 1990, a quite fortunate discovery was made in the Commerzbibliothek in Hamburg. While looking for the epitaph for Hieronymus Praetorius (sr.), three further epitaphs were discovered, and musicologists discovered Hieronymus Praetorius I, II, III and IV, across multiple generations. H. Praetorius II and IV were theologians, but Hieronymus Praetorious III was an organist and composer.
References
Beckmann, Klaus (editor). Hieronymus Praetorius: Sämtliche Orgelwerke. Vol. 1 Meister der Norddeutschen Orgelschule 1. Mainz: Schott, 2002.
Beckmann, Klaus (editor). Jakob Praetorius: Sämtliche Orgelwerke. Meister der Norddeutschen Orgelschule 6. Mainz: Schott, 2004.
Beckmann, Klaus, Die Norddeutsche Schule. Teil I: Die Zeit der Gründerväter. Mainz: Schott, 2005. 195-201.
