Praetorius, Prätorius, Prætorius was the name of several musicians and scholars in Germany. In 16th and 17th century Germany it became a fashion for educated people named "Schulze," "Schultheiß," or "Richter" (which means "judge"), to Latinise their names as "Praetorius," referring to a former official position called "Praetor urbanus." Anton Praetorius (1560–1613), pastor, fighter against the persecution of witches and against torture Bartholomaeus Praetorius (c.1590–1623), composer and cornettist Christoph Praetorius (died 1609), composer, and uncle of Michael Franz Praetorius (1847–1927), semitist and Hebraist Hieronymus Praetorius (1560–1629), composer and organist Ida Praetorius (born 1993), Danish ballerina Jacob Praetorius (c.1530–1586), composer and organist, and father of Hieronymus Jacob Praetorius (1586–1651), composer, organist and teacher, and son of Hieronymus Johannes Praetorius (1537–1616), mathematician and astronomer Johannes Praetorius (musician) (1595–1660), organist and composer; son of Hieronymus and brother of Jacob Johannes Praetorius (writer) (1630–1680), writer and polymath, real name Hans Schultze Matthäus Prätorius (1635–1704), pastor, priest, historian, ethnographer Michael Praetorius (c.1571–1621), composer ("Terpsichore"), music theorist, and organist Stephan Praetorius (1536–1603), theologian Other uses "Praetorius (Courante)," a song by Blackmore’s Night from their 2001 album Fires at Midnight Cary Grant plays Dr. Noah Praetorius in People Will Talk (1951; dir. Joseph Mankiewicz). Praetorius (film), 1965 West German film See also Pretorius (disambiguation) Scultetus