Heinrich Schütz: Musikalische Exequien

Description

Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) was an exceptional artist in a turbulent era when music was being reinvented and Europe was ravaged by war. His moving three-part work, Musikalische Exequien, can be considered one of his most important works. It was written in less than two months, upon the death of his employer Heinrich Posthumus Reuss in Gera in 1635. The album also features composers who inspired Schütz or were inspired by him. It includes works by Schütz's teachers such as Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1557 - 1612) and Moritz Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel (1572 - 1632), who composed the "Pavane de la tromba hollandica," a joyful dance whose name is derived from the Italian word for "peacock." During his travels in Italy, Schütz met Claudio Monteverdi (1567 -1643), whose virtuosic "Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti," with its contrast between the joyful nature of spring and the pain of love, inspired him even for his sacred concerto "Es steh Gott auf" and his pupil Johann Schelle (1648- 1701). Johann Schelle (1648-1701), first a choirboy at the Dresden court chapel, then at the Thomasschule in Leipzig, wrote his motet "Komm, Jesu komm" in a style similar to Schütz's Geistliche Chormusik. A great feast of the early Baroque!