Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) was a seminal German Baroque composer and organist, regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach. As an early Baroque composer, Schütz was pivotal in bringing the Italian style to Germany and transitioning it from the Renaissance. His compositions were largely for the Lutheran church, especially for the Electoral Chapel in Dresden, and he penned the first German opera, Dafne. He succumbed to a stroke in Dresden at 87.