Musikalische Exequien, Op. 7, SWV 279–281

Heinrich Schultz wrote the sacred funeral music Musikalische Exequien in 1635 or 1636 for the funeral services of Count Henry II, Count of Reuss-Gera, an early patron, who died on 3 December 1635. It is Schütz's most famous work of funeral music. The work was first performed on 14 February 1636 in the Johanniskirche in Gera. The work was the first requiem in the German language and Schulz is widely regarded as the greatest German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach.
 
In 1599 he became a chorister at Kassel, where the landgrave of Hesse-Kassel provided him with a wide general education. In 1608, Schütz entered the University of Marburg to study law, but in 1609 he went to Venice, where for three years he studied music at the landgrave’s expense; his chief teacher there was Giovanni Gabrieli. In Venice Schütz wrote his first known works, a set of Italian madrigals for five voices (published 1611). In 1613 he returned to Germany and went to Leipzig to resume his legal studies. Shortly afterward the landgrave offered him the post of second organist at the court in Kassel. In 1614 he went to Dresden to supervise the music for the christening of the son of the elector of Saxony, and in 1617 the landgrave gave him a permanent post in the electoral chapel. In 1628 Schütz again visited Venice, where Claudio Monteverdi was now the chief musical figure; it is possible that Schütz studied with him. Three years after his return to Dresden, Schütz left the elector’s court, which was being seriously affected by plague and by the turmoils of the Thirty Years’ War. From 1633 to 1635 he was chapel master to the royal court of Copenhagen. From 1635, apart from one further visit to the Danish court, he remained, in spite of his frequent pleas for dismissal, in the elector’s service at Dresden.
 
After the early set of madrigals, almost all of Schütz’s known works are vocal settings of sacred texts, with or without instruments. Of his known secular works, Dafne (performed 1627), the first German opera, and compositions for the marriage of Johann Georg II of Saxony in 1638 were lost. Schütz’s special achievement was to introduce into German music the new style of the Italian monodists (as typified in Monteverdi’s work) without creating an unsatisfactory hybrid. His music remains extremely individual and German in feeling. After the Latin of Symphoniae sacrae I (published 1629), he used the vernacular. The first German requiem was his Musikalische Exequien, published 1636. Other principal works from the middle of his life are two sets of Kleine geistliche Konzerte (published 1636, 1639) for solo voice and continuo, Geistliche Chormusik (published 1648), and Symphoniae sacrae II and III (published 1647, 1650) for various combinations of voices and instruments. In all of these works, Schütz’s strong dramatic sense has been noted.
 
Henry II had planned the service himself and chose the texts, some of which are scriptural and others of which are from 16th-century Lutheran writers, including Martin Luther himself. He commissioned Schütz to compose the music on the occasion of his death. The Exequien is endlessly fascinating, not least because from these texts Schütz fashions a musical form for which there appears to have been no precedent. It comprises three sections:

1. Concert in Form einer teutschen Begräbnis-Messe (SWV 279). It is modelled on the form of a Lutheran Kyrie and Gloria, including three choral invocations for the ersatz Kyrie, which sets the pattern for the rest: episodes for small groups of soloists (the favoriti) punctuated by choral interventions that take the form of ritornellos.
2. Motet Herr, wenn ich nur Dich habe (SWV 280) for two equal choirs.
3. Canticum Simeonis Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener (SWV 281) is a German setting of the Nunc dimittis, with a group of favoriti set apart from the choir and singing a different text (‘Selig sind die Toten’).

 
Part I, by far the longest part of the work, is scored for SSATTB (2 sopranos, alto, 2 tenors, bass) chorus alternating with small ensembles of soloists. Part II is scored for double choir SATB SATB, and Part III is written for SATTB choir and a trio of soloists. All movements are accompanied by basso continuo.
 
There are clear indications that Schütz thought carefully about the relationship of texts and form: for example, the precise composition of the favoriti in Part 3 (two high voices and one low) is prefigured in a section of Part 1 that dwells likewise on the souls of the righteous (‘Die Gerechten Seelen’). Probably because this form of funeral music had no precedent, Schütz included performance suggestions in the prefatory note to the printed score. For Part 1, the choir may consist of up to 12 singers, including the favoriti, and the continuo section should consist of a ‘quiet’ organ with capped, wooden pipes, supported by a deep bowed bass (‘violone’). Schütz states that the organ may be omitted in Part 2, consistent with his preference (stated elsewhere) for double-choir music to be performed a cappella – a stipulation adhered to in fewer than a handful of recordings; and for Part 3, the favoriti (named in the score to represent Heinrich’s departing soul and two seraphim) should be not only audibly distanced from the choir but preferably invisible to the congregation – an exceptional prescription for the time and magical in effect.
The work was known to Brahms, as it is thought that he owned a copy of the score;his German Requiem is remarkably similar in content.
 
Here are four albums:
 
Heinrich Schultz: Musikalische Exequien. Lionel Meunier with Masato Suzuki (organ), and Vox Luminis. Release Date: 13 Jun 2011. Label: Ricercar. Catalogue No: RIC311. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit). 
 
Awards:
 Gramophone Awards, 2012, Recording of the Year.
Presto Recording of the Week, 1 October 2012.
Radio 3, Building a Library, December 2021, Also Recommended.
 
Heinrich Schultz: Musikalische Exequien. Hans-Christoph Rademann with Anja Zügner (soprano), Marie Luise Werneburg (soprano), Dorothee Mields (soprano), David Erler (countertenor), Georg Poplutz (tenor), Jan Kobow (tenor), Andreas Wolf (bass (vocal)), Tobias Mäthger (tenor), Alexander Schneider (countertenor), Matthias Lutze (bass), Ludger Rémy (organ), Matthias Müller (violone), Stefan Maass (theorbo), and Dresdner Kammerchor. Release Date: 1 Mar 2011. Label: Carus. Catalogue No: CAR83238A. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
 
Heinrich Schultz: Musikalische Exequien. Sigiswald Kuijken and La Petite Bande. Release Date: 18 Sept 2015. Label: Accent. Catalogue No: ACC24299. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).
 
Schultz: Musikalische Exequien. Philippe Herreweghe and La Chapelle Royale.Release Date: 9 Nov 1992. Label: Harmonia Mundi. Catalogue No: HMC901261. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit).

​Reference:
Fitch, F. (2024). Schütz’s Musicalische Exequien: the best recordings. Gramophone.
 
Musikalische Exequien. (2024, September 27). In Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musikalische_Exequien
 
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2024). Heinrich Schultz. Britannica.