Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck held one job for his entire adult life: organist of the Oude Kerk, the old church in the heart of Amsterdam, a post he took over as a young man and kept for more than four decades until his death in 1621. Because the Calvinist services of his city did not use the organ during worship, he played for the public before and after, employed by the city, and his daily playing became a civic attraction.

Born in Deventer in 1562, he rarely traveled, but Europe came to him. Aspiring organists, especially from northern Germany, moved to Amsterdam to study with him, and his students carried his methods home, feeding the German organ tradition that eventually produced Bach's world. He wrote keyboard fantasias and variations, and a large body of vocal settings of the French psalms.

Start with his keyboard music: a set of his variations on a popular song of the day, played on organ or harpsichord, shows his invention at its clearest.