Our August Composer of the Month is Heinrich Schütz (1585 – 1672), who will also be a big focus at the upcoming Early Music Festival. In one of the broadcasts about Schütz you will hear his St John Passion, which has a completely different structure from Johann Sebastian Bach’s. Schütz was born in Saxony and studied in Kassel before travelling to Italy to study with Giovanni Gabrieli. This left him with a lifelong love for Italy. Schütz was mainly active as a composer in Dresden, writing for various noble and religious patrons. He was successful, both artistically and professionally, and turned down offers to work elsewhere.
One of Schütz’s greatest successes were his Musikalische Exequien (1636), commissioned by a noble patron on the occasion of his own death. Schütz produced a work that showed what he was capable of. This composition belongs to the best pieces produced by Protestant church music.
