Celia Briar

At the Oude Kerk, Sweelinck established himself as a musician of growing international importance, attracting pupils from the Netherlands and from North Germany, and the English composers and performers, including Peter Philips and John Bull. As an organist his playing won admiration and it may be supposed that his duties, under the new Protestant civic administration, which would have involved daily performances, especially something thus becoming of a tourist attraction. In the earlier years, after the death of his father, he encountered obvious financial difficulties, but these were alleviated by help from well placed friends of the family, and in later years brought substantial rewards from the authorities and from pupils. Through the latter he exercised a strong influence over music in North Germany and Scandinavia, not least through musicians such as Samuel Scheidt and his younger brother Gottfried. He was an acknowledged expert on the construction of the organ and was called upon for his advice by a number of Dutch cities