Jan Pieterszoon
Sweelinck

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. Jan Pieterszoon must have received first lessons in music from his father. Unfortunately, his father died in 1573. He subsequently received general education under Jacob Buyck Catholic pastor of the Oude Kerk. Little is known about his music education after the death of his father; his music teachers may have included Jan Willemszoon Lossy, a little-known countertenor and shawm player at Haarlem, and (or) Cornelis Boskoop, Sweelinck's father's successor at the Oude Kerk. If Sweelinck indeed studied in Haarlem, he was probably influenced to some degree by the organists of St. Bavokerk, Claas Albrechtszoon van Wieringen and Floris van Adrichem, both of whom improvised daily in the Bavokerk. He was among the first major keyboard composers of Europe, and his work as a teacher helped establish the north German organ tradition.