German organist and composer; a most important and prolific member of the north German school of Sweelinck , whose pupil he was in Amsterdam from 1611 to 1614. Organist at the Katharinenkirche in Hamburg from 1625, succeeding his father in the post, until his death; from 1633 he was also clerk to the church. During this period he came in contact with Praetorius. His organ music, surviving in manuscript tablatures, includes free preludes in a variety of styles, many plainsong-based pieces, colorful and virtuosic fantasias, and examples of many different types of chorale setting, representing the first peak of the North German organ school, and extending Sweelinck's keyboard style into an organ idiom. He also published songs.