AMERBACH, Elias Nicolaus. — Musician, b. at Naumburg c. 1530, d. at Leipzig in 1597. Organist at the church of St Thomas in Leipzig (1550), he belongs, with B. Schmidt, G. Woltz and others, to that group of organists who adorned their compositions in the late 16th and early 17th centuries with coloratura and florid passages derived from vocal music.
He is the author of two collections of organ music entitled: *Orgel oder Instrument-Tabulatur* (1571) and *Ein neu künstlich Tabulaturbuch*.
Bibl.: Elly Schmidt, *Lasso's Werke in den Orgeltabulaturen von B. Schmidt u. E. N. A.* (Diss. Göttingen 1923); R. Wustmann, in *Sammelbände der Intern. Musik-Gesellschaft*, XI, 1; Luisa Cercelli.