Histoire de la Resurrection & Musikalische Exequien

Haller, Benoit, La Chapelle Rhénane

K 617199

Heinrich II Posthumus Reuß (1572-1635), Prince of Gera and Lobenstein, was a pious and pragmatic gentleman. Under his reign, the city of Gera experienced its first economic boom, as the Lutheran prince, against the advice of his court theologians, offered Calvinist refugees from Flanders in his residence city; with their skills and diligence, the new subjects then helped the wool production in Gera to flourish.

For his last journey the pious prince made precise arrangements: Trusting firmly in Luther's teaching that only God's word can make you blessed, he had his sarcophagus decorated with 25 Bible verses and lines from hymns, especially referring to the hymn of Simeon Lord, "Now let your servant go in peace. The order for the funeral music was given to Heinrich Schütz, who used these sayings to create a spiritual funeral concert that united dignity, hope and comfort. And when Heinrich Posthumus was carried to his tomb, the choir in the church intoned the hymn of praise of Simeon, while at the same time a second choir greeted the coffin on his arrival at the tomb with the motet Selig sind die Toten.

Thus the mourners could trust that Heinrich Posthumus would rise from the dead as his Saviour once did. Heinrich Schütz had set the resurrection of Jesus twelve years earlier to no less impressive Easter music.

CD x 1

K617

13.11.2007

3383510001994