Heinrich Schütz (German: [ʃʏt͡s]; 18 October [O.S. 8 October] 1585 – 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He is credited with bringing the Italian style to Germany and continuing its evolution from the Renaissance into the early Baroque. Most of his surviving music was written for the Lutheran church, primarily for the Electoral Chapel in Dresden. He wrote what is traditionally considered the first German opera, Dafne, performed at Torgau in 1627, the music of which has since been lost, along with nearly all of his ceremonial and theatrical scores. Schütz was a prolific composer, with more than 500 surviving works.

He is commemorated as a musician in the Calendar of Saints of some North American Lutheran churches on 28 July with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel.

Schütz was born in Köstritz, the eldest son of Christoph Schütz and Euphrosyne Bieger.

In 1590 the family moved to Weißenfels, where his father managed the inn "Zum güldenen Ring". His father eventually served as burgomaster in Weißenfels, and in 1615 purchased another inn known as both "Zur güldenen Sackpfeife" and "Zum güldenen Esel", which he renamed "Zum Schützen".

While Schütz was living with his parents, his musical talents were discovered by Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel in 1598 during an overnight stay in Christoph Schütz's inn. Upon hearing young Heinrich sing, the landgrave requested that his parents allow the boy to be sent to his noble court for further education and instruction. His parents initially resisted the offer, but after much correspondence they took Heinrich to the landgrave's seat at Kassel in August 1599.

After being a choirboy, Schütz studied law at Marburg before going to Venice from 1609 to 1612 to study music with Giovanni Gabrieli. Gabrieli is the only person Schütz ever called his teacher. He inherited a ring from Gabrieli shortly before the latter's death. He was subsequently organist at Kassel from 1613 to 1615.

After a prolonged negotiation between the landgrave and the elector, Schütz moved to Dresden in 1615 to work as court composer to the Elector of Saxony. In 1619 Schütz married Magdalena Wildeck (born 1601). She bore two daughters before her death in 1625: Anna Justina in 1621 and Euphrosyne in 1623.

In Dresden Schütz sowed the seeds of what is now the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, but left there on several occasions; in 1628 he went to Venice again, where he may have met Claudio Monteverdi. In 1633 he was invited to Copenhagen to compose the music for wedding festivities there, returning to Dresden in 1635. He again conducted an extended visit to Denmark in 1641, due to the devastation of the Electoral court. The Thirty Years' War ended in 1648, and he again became more active in Dresden. In 1655, the year his daughter Euphrosyne died, he accepted an ex officio post as Kapellmeister at Wolfenbüttel.