Samuel Capricornus

Samuel Friedrich Capricornus (born Samuel Friedrich Bockshorn; 21 December 1628 – 10 November 1665) was a composer of the Baroque period from Bohemia. Life Samuel Friedrich Capricornus was born on 21 December 1628 in Žerčice. Capricornus’ father was a Protestant minister, who fled with his family for fear of the Counter-Reformation to Bratislava in the then Kingdom of Hungary. After completing high school in Sopron, he studied languages and theology in Silesia before becoming a musician at the imperial court in Vienna. Here, he became acquainted with the music of Giovanni Valentini and Antonio Bertali. After a short stay in Reutlingen he worked for two years as a private music teacher in Bratislava and then from 1651 to 1657 he was active as a music director in various churches and as a music teacher at a high school there. In May 1657 he became Kapellmeister in Stuttgart and soon became engaged in a bitter dispute with the organist of the collegiate church, Philipp Friedrich Böddecker, who had himself coveted the position, and his brother David, a cornetto player. Already in September 1657, David Böddecker had complained about a “high and difficult piece” which he had been asked t