Georg Dietrich Leyding (or Leiding) (; 23 February 1664 – 10 May 1710) was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

associated with the North German school. Born in

Bücken Bücken is a municipality in the district of Nienburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Quarters * Altenbücken * Bücken * Calle * Dedendorf * Duddenhausen History An Abbey was established here in Bücken in the year 882 by Rimbert, Archbishop of B ...

, close to Nienburg, his father was a riding master in the

French lifeguards The Gardes du Corps du Roi (King's bodyguard) was the senior formation of the King of France's household cavalry within the ''maison militaire du roi de France''. History Foundation The oldest unit in the ''Garde du Corps'' was the Company of Sco ...

. Showing an early ability in music, he moved to

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

(Brunswick) in 1679 to study with organist Jacob Bölsche and in 1684 studied briefly with both

Johann Adam Reincken Johann Adam Reincken (also ''Jan Adams, Jean Adam'', ''Reinken, Reinkinck, Reincke, Reinicke, Reinike''; Baptism, baptized 10 December 1643 – 24 November 1722) was a Dutch/German organist and composer. He was one of the most important composers ...

and

Dieterich Buxtehude Dieterich Buxtehude (; ; born Diderik Hansen Buxtehude; c. 1637 – 9 May 1707) was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

. He returned to Braunschweig the same year, where he succeeded Bölsche as organist of the St Ulrich and St Blasius churches after Bölsche's death, and later also became organist of the Magnikirche. Towards the end of the 1680s, he learned

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

from the Hof

kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest c ...

Johann Theile Johann Theile (29 July 1646 – 24 June 1724) was a German composer of the Baroque era, famous for the opera ''Adam und Eva, Der erschaffene, gefallene und aufgerichtete Mensch'', first performed in Hamburg on 2 January 1678. Life After stud ...

. Leyding died in

. J. G. Walther wrote in his ''Musicalisches Lexicon'' that he was 'primarily a composer for the organ', but of the 'many extant

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

pieces' that Leyding wrote, only five are now known, all for organ. Three are

prelude Prelude may refer to: Music *Prelude (music), a musical form *Prelude (band), an English-based folk band *Prelude Records (record label), a former New York-based dance independent record label *Chorale prelude, a short liturgical composition for ...

s, in B-flat major, C major, and E-flat major, which have significant

pedal A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to: Computers and other equipment * Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse * In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control p ...

parts; a setting of the

chorale Chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one of the t ...

''Wie schön leucht’ uns der Morgenstern''; and a set of chorale

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individuals ...

on ''Von Gott will ich nicht lassen''. They are published in an edition by K. Beckmann as ''Sämtliche Orgelwerke'' (Wiesbaden, 1984).

Sources

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Leyding, Georg Dietrich 1664 births 1710 deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century German composers 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century German male musicians German Baroque composers German classical composers German male classical composers German classical organists German male organists Organists and composers in the North German tradition Male classical organists