Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow

Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow or Zachau (14 November 1663 – 7 August 1712) was a German musician and composer of vocal and keyboard music.

He probably received his training from his father, the piper Heinrich Zachow, one of Leipzig's town musicians in the Alta capella, and maybe from Johann Schelle, a leading German composer, when the family moved to Eilenburg.

[2] Zachow was influenced by Johann Theile in Merseburg and the poetry of Erdmann Neumeister, pastor in the nearby Weissenfels, and his criticism on pietism.

Zachow's teaching was so effective, that in 1702, Handel accepted a position as organist at the former Dom in Halle at age seventeen.

Handel continued to use Zachow's compositions in his own works, not simply quoting, but also in terms of instrumental colour; for example the cantata Herr, wenn ich nur dich habe, which is unique in having a harp solo in the German cantata repertoire, was copied by Handel, taken to London, and may have influenced the instrumentation of Saul and Esther.