German composer. In 1571-3 he sang in the Munich court chapel and studied with Lassus; in 1577-8 he served the Fugger family at Augsburg, and in 1580 was appointed vice-Kapellmeisterat the Königsberg [Kaliningrad] court, taking charge of the music there in 1586. He spent his last years as electoral music director in Berlin. Eccard was one of the most important composers of Lutheran song, second only to Lechner in his day; he wrote some 250 sacred and secular songs, some published jointly with those of J. a Burck. He was a distinguished follower of Lassus, showing an element of restrained counterpoint in what was in reality a decorated homophonic idiom, and in his expressive writing looked forward to the baroque age; indeed his songs were still being printed as late as 1644.