Scheidt, Samuel (1587–1654)

German organist and composer. His influential Tabulatura nova for the organ (published in 1624) was printed in score, not in the old German tablature.

He was appointed organist at St Maurice's Church, Halle, in 1603. He studied under Jan Sweelinck at Amsterdam. He returned to Halle in 1609 and became court organist to the Margrave of Brandenburg, who was Protestant administrator of the archbishopric of Magdeburg. He was appointed Kapellmeister in 1619, but he lost his appointment in 1625 as a result of the Thirty Years' War.

Works Choral and church music Cantiones sacrae for eight voices; sacred concertos for 2–12 voices with instruments; pavans and galliards for 4–5 voices; Liebliche Krafft-Blümlein for 2 voices and instruments; organ accompaniments for or transcriptions of 100 hymns and psalms.

Organ music Tabulatura nova containing a great variety of organ pieces in three volumes.