Samuel Friedrich Capricornus, born Samuel Friedrich Bockshorn (21 December 1628, in Žerčice near Mladá Boleslav – 10 November 1665, in Stuttgart) was a Czech composer of the Baroque period.
Capricornus' father was a Protestant minister, who fled with his family for fear of the Counter-Reformation to Bratislava in the former Kingdom of Hungary. After completing high school in Sopron, he studied languages and theology in Silesia before becoming a musician at the imperial court in Vienna. Here, he became acquainted with the music of
Giovanni Valentini and
Antonio Bertali. After a short stay in Reutlingen he worked for two years as a private music teacher in Bratislava and then from 1651 to 1657 he was active as a music director in various churches and as a music teacher at a high school there.
In May 1657 he became Kapellmeister in Stuttgart and soon became engaged in a bitter dispute with the organist of the collegiate church,
Philipp Friedrich Böddecker, who had himself coveted the position, and his brother David, a cornetto player. Already in September 1657, David Böddecker had complained about a "high and difficult piece" which he had been asked to play by Capricornus and that he also had to play the "Quart-Zink" (a small, high pitched cornetto) and sing, which were not part of his job requirements. In his defense against these allegations, Capricornus complained about the unruliness, and the "gluttony and drunkenness" of the musicians in the kapell, also saying the cornetto players played their instruments like a cow horn.
Capricornus remained in this post until his death in 1665.
