In music the three "B's" are Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Who are the three "S's"?

Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms are pictured above.

The three Baroque composers: Heinrich Schütz, Samuel Scheidt and Hermann Schein are referred to as the three S's.

All three of the holy trinity of 17th Century German "S's" were born within a couple of years of one another and had to deal with the highs and lows of the Thirty Years War in their personal and musical lives. Schütz was a composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, and often considered to one of the most important composers of the 17th century.

Samuel Scheidt was an organist and composer who studied in Amsterdam with Jan Sweelinck influenced the Baroque organ style of northern Germany. He was a great influence on the growing practice of congregational singing in Lutheran churches.

Hermann Schein was one of the earliest composers (along with Schütz) to introduce the Italian Baroque style into German music. He composed both sacred and secular music and is considered along with his acquaintance Samuel Scheidt and his close friend Heinrich Schütz to be one of the finest composers of his time. Schein held the valued position of cantor at the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, a post that Bach occupied more than a century later.