Musikalische Exequien SWV 279-281

In the midst of the Thirty Years’ War, Heinrich Schütz composed the “Musikalische Exequien” SWV 279–281, a unique funeral music that reflects questions about earthly suffering and the promise of eternal life. In this revised new edition, editor Beate Agnes Schmidt compares the only, albeit incomplete, surviving first edition with contemporary copies and the Spitta edition (Old Schütz Edition, Breitkopf, 1898) for the first time. The edition thus offers an extensive reconstruction of the original work.

The performance material meets the practical needs of the performers: the three differently scored parts can be performed vocally with continuo, but the individual vocal parts can also be enhanced by instruments. To bolster the phrasing, the instrumental parts as well as the string bass include the texts; parts in the same register have been compiled in one playing score.