Wilhelm Karges was a German organist and composer in the North German organ tradition. Much of Karges' life was spent in and around Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, where he was born, worked, and died. Karges came into contact with Sweelinck

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was a Dutch composer, organist, and pedagogue whose work straddled the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque eras. He was among the first major keyboard composers of Europe, and his work as a teacher helped establish the north German organ...

 student Andreas Düben

Andreas Düben

Andreas Düben was a Swedish Baroque composer and organist, and father of Gustaf Düben. He was born near Leipzig and was admitted to Leipzig University in 1609. He studied with the renowned Dutch pedagogue Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck from 1614 until 1620 when he secured a position as organist in the...

 through his travels in North Germany and the Low Countries, and became his assistant at the German Church in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

. In January 1646 he was appointed chamber musician and composer at the court of the Elector Friedrich Wilhelm

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg

|align=right|Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia – from 1640 until his death. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as the "Great Elector" because of his military and political prowess...

 of Brandenburg

Brandenburg

Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

in Berlin, and subsequently became organist at the cathedral there. His eyesight gradually deteriorated, and by the 1680s he had several assistants and had been relieved of many of his responsibilities. Still, his organ playing was apparently still of such high quality that in 1683 his salary was nearly doubled. Six of Karges' pieces are known to have survived, all for organ.