Musikalische Exequien (Hardback Score)

Schütz Musikalische Exequien (Hardback Score)
scored for Soprano solo (2), Alto solo, Tenor solo (2), Baritone solo, Bass solo, Mixed choir (SSAATTBB), Basso continuo

Violence, hunger and epidemic diseases made death omnipresent at the time of the Thirty Years' War.  For every Christian, especially in times of crisis, preparing for their own earthly end was an integral part of life.  An expression of this forgotten art of "dying well" are the "Musikalische Exequien" SWV 279-281, which Heinrich Schütz composed at the beginning of 1636 for the funeral celebrations of Heinrich Posthumus Reuß, Lord of Gera.  They are among the most fascinating funeral music in European music history and at the same time mark an absolute high point in Heinrich Schütz's oeuvre.  The "Exequien" are a unique artistic-religious exploration of the questions of earthly suffering and the promise of eternal life.

The revised new edition replaces volume 4 of the New Schütz Edition (BA00250) edited by Friedrich Schöneich in 1961.  For the first time, the editor Beate Agnes Schmidt compares the only, albeit incomplete, surviving first print from the Waldenburg choir archive with contemporary copies and the Spitta edition.  This new edition thus offers a substantial reconstruction of the original score.  The preface discusses important questions about the genesis and special performance situation of the "Exequien".  Aspects of Schütz's authorship are presented in a new light on the basis of newly evaluated sources.

The edition is supplemented by an extensive illustrated appendix, which offers facsimiles of the partbooks and original text sources as well as sketches, coffin inscriptions and other memorabilia.  In addition, the new edition contains a historical-critical text edition of Schütz's text contributions and detailed descriptions and evaluations of the sources in the Critical Report.e reproductions of the sources consulted for the edition as well as a critical report.

- New Schütz Edition Volume 4