Hans Kotter

Hans Kotter, sometimes given as Hans Cotter, Hans Kotterer, or Hans Kotther, (1480–1541) was a German composer and organist of the Renaissance. Although organ music was not popular or enthusiastically supported in Strasbourg in the early Reformation years, the first known organ chorales were composed by Kotter.

Life and career Hans Kotter was born in Strasbourg in 1480.

In 1514 Kotter was appointed organist at the Fribourg Cathedral. He remained there until 1530 when he lost his position due to his authorship of a poem he wrote before 1522 in which he displayed support for Protestantism. From 1534 he taught as a schoolmaster in Bern. He died there in 1541.

Kotter's three keyboard tablatures, contains the first German organ dances and pieces by Paul Hofhaimer, Josquin des Prez, Heinrich Isaac, and others. Also preserved are ten preludes, which are kept in a somewhat impersonal style, and are close to his teacher Hofhaimer.