Hieronymus Praetorius (10 August 1560 – 27 January 1629) was a north German composer and organist of the late Renaissance and very early Baroque eras. He was not related to the much more famous Michael Praetorius, though the Praetorius family had many distinguished musicians throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Praetorius was born in Hamburg, and spent most of his life there. He studied organ early with his father (Jacob Praetorius, also a composer), afterwards going to Cologne for further study. In 1580 he became organist in Erfurt, but only remained there two years, returning to Hamburg in 1582. Back in Hamburg he worked with his father as assistant organist at St. Jacobi, becoming principal organist in 1586 when his father died. His son, Jacob, was born that same year, and was also destined to become a composer. In 1596 he went to 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 Italian Venetian School, at this time. He remained in Hamburg as organist at St. Jacobi until his death. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.