(b Geisa, 2 May 1601; d Rome, 27 Nov 1680). German polyhistorian, theologian and music theorist. He lived mainly in Italy, where he became a professor at the Collegio Romano in 1633. His chief work on music is Musurgia universalis (1650), one of the most influential of all music treatises. It covers many aspects of the music of the time, and contains original ideas on topics including musical expression and the classification of styles.

The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.