Elias Nikolaus Ammerbach

Elias Nikolaus Ammerbach was a German organist and arranger of organ music of the Renaissance. He published the earliest printed book of organ music in Germany and is grouped among the composers known as the Colorists.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Elias Ammerbach.

From the period sources

Elias Nikolaus Ammerbach, an “excellent composer of the 16th century” according to the Dictionary of Music (1896), served as organist at St. Thomas’s Church, Leipzig, around 1570. He is “reported to have been one of the greatest contrapuntists” of his era, having traveled extensively, likely to the Netherlands, to study under eminent musicians, as noted in the Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians (1888). His significant contribution was his Orgel- und Instrument-tabulatur, published in Leipzig in 1571, which the Dictionary of Music (1896) describes as “of great historical importance” for its directions on fingering and explanations of ornaments. This work, along with a second Tablature book from 1575, was intended for “Organ and Instrument,” with the latter term often referring specifically to the clavier in Germany, as explained by A History of Pianoforte-Playing and Pianoforte-Literature (1897). Ammerbach’s 1571 publication is also notable as the “earliest marked fingering of which we have any knowledge,” according to A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1879), though it featured a system that largely avoided the thumb and little finger. His work, which included four-part chorales, secular songs, and dance-tunes, was even part of Johann Sebastian Bach’s personal collection, as recorded in Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, Vol. 3 (1884).