On the Road: Schütz's "Exequien" in the Zips Region

EXPORT I | Music of the Protestant Diaspora around 1650

18:30 | A Word Before... with Prof. Dr. Silke Leopold
Pre-concert introduction to "On the Road: Schütz's Exequien in the Zips Region"

In the 17th century, the Zips (Spiš) region was a culturally rich transit space between the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, and the Italian madrigal tradition - linked by Lutheran networks, long-distance trade routes, and the quiet work of copyists. A tablature preserving parts of the "Musikalische Exequien" SWV 279-281 and the "Psalmen Davids" SWV 22-47 has survived in Levoča, Slovakia. Johann Schimrack (d. 1657) absorbed the works of his Dresden colleague this way, then went on to compose his own pieces in a related style. Alongside Schimrack, Samuel Marckfelner (1621-1674) also steps into the European soundscape of the Schütz era.

Ensemble Le Nuove Musiche (Bratislava) and Capella dell'Halla (Bad Reichenhall) take Schimrack's tablature as the starting point for an artistic exploration. Works by Zips composers enter into dialogue with Heinrich Schütz's "Exequien" - bringing to life traces of a practice that thought and worked through exchange.