Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel (known as 'The Learned')

German ruler (1592-1627) and composer. Not only a patron of the arts (he sent Schütz to study in Venice) he was also a player of many instruments and a competent composer. A Protestant, he published congregational psalm tunes, motets which show the influence initially of Lassus but, after Schütz's return from Italy, of the Italian style. His dances and secular songs survive in MS; unfortunately his court's flourishing musical life was destroyed by the Thirty Years' War.