PASSION & RESURRECTION Music composed for Passiontide is very different in style from that composed for Easter itself, whether it be oratorio-like in form or written for a specific religious observance during those periods. We have also added several compositions that also have death as their subject: not the death of Christ, but the death of men who hope to find their refuge in the paradise that they have so long awaited. The texts of these compositions describe a God who redeems and who is merciful, a believer’s lifelong hope. This journey through the repertoire of the German Baroque must of necessity lead us to the beginning of the 18th century and to Johann Sebastian Bach.
Heinrich Schütz: Historia der Auferstehung Jesu Christi Music for Eastertide occupies a highly important place in the work of Heinrich Schütz. He was clearly a paradoxical figure in that he was Kapellmeister to the Roman Catholic court of the Elector of Saxony in Dresden, although the city itself was predominantly Lutheran; we can only suppose that certain of his works were composed for the Lutheran churches in the city. Oratorio played a large part in this repertoire, with settings of texts of the Passion and of the Resurrection. Lutheran composers had written polyphonic settings of the Passion from the middle of the 16th century; Antonio Scandello, an Italian composer who had converted to the Protestant faith, had also made similar settings of the Passion in Dresden. Schütz, who had been trained in all the latest aspects of the Italian style, created his own idea of what a Passion setting should be, adding a basso continuo and instrumental parts to support the solo voices. This being said, all of these works in oratorio style were composed in different languages. The Historia der Auferstehung Jesu Christi is dated 1623 and was Schütz’s first oratorio. His