(b Stuttgart, bap. 19 May 1616; d Héricourt, 6/7 May 1667). German composer and keyboard player. Trained at the Stuttgart court, he went in the 1630s to Vienna, where he became a court organist. He studied in Rome with Frescobaldi and made further travels, performing in the Low Countries, England, France and Germany. In 1653 he was made Vienna court organist, but he was released in 1658; lastly he worked as tutor to Princess Sibylla of Württemberg-Montbéliard at Héricourt.

Froberger was the foremost German keyboard composer of his day. By combining features of different national styles, he created a German keyboard style which became very influential after his death. Italian elements are prominent in his c70 toccatas, ricercares, fantasias, canzonas and capriccios for organ or harpsichord. His counterpoint is more conservative than Frescobaldi's, but his toccata structures point towards the later north German form of the toccata and fugue, and his thematic invention looks towards Bach. His best works are his 30 harpsichord suites, in which he combined French forms with a more expressive idiom and livelier textures. Among the earliest examples of their genre, they contain dance movements in various orderings; there are also laments, other character pieces and a variation suite, Partita auff die Mayerin. Froberger's only other surviving works are two sacred vocal pieces.

from the Concise Grove Dictionary of Music