Bütner, Bythner, Büthner, Crato, *1616 Sonneberg (Thuringia), †1679 Gdańsk, German composer and organist. From around 1650 until his death, he worked in Gdańsk and took an active part in the musical life of the city, initially as an organist at the church of St Salvator, and then as a cantor at St Catherine’s Church. He composed Protestant vocal and instrumental music, mostly to German texts, in a concertato style, ranging from one voice accompanied by instruments and basso continuo to four vocal-instrumental choirs. Several songs he wrote (text and music) for one voice accompanied by basso continuo were included in German songbooks of the time. Bütner published Geistliche Concerte… for two tenors, two violins, viola da gamba and basso continuo (Hamburg 1651), and between 1652 and 1662, he published many religious occasional works (eight of which are known today). The manuscripts of his compositions (over 50) were kept until World War II in the Staats-Bibliothek [Gdańsk Library of Polish Academy of Sciences] in Gdańsk (several of them have survived). In addition, manuscripts of Bütner’s works have been preserved in the Uppsala University Library and in several German collections.
Literature: H. Rauschning Geschichte der Musik und Musikpflege in Danzig, Gdańsk 1931; D. Szlagowska Twórczość C. Bütnera, kompozytora działającego w Gdańsku w drugiej połowie XVII wieku, in: Muzyka w Gdańsku wczoraj i dziś, vol. 1, ed. J. Krossowki, «Kultura muzyczna północnych ziem Polski» III, Gdańsk 1988 (contains a list of compositions).
