On the Way: Schütz's "Exequien" in the Zips

EXPORT I | Music of the Protestant Diaspora around 1650

16:00 | A Word with Prof. Dr. Silke Leopold
Introduction to the concert "On the Way: Schütz's Exequien in the Zips"

The Zips region was in the 17th century a culturally rich transitional space between the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, and Italian madrigal art - connected through Lutheran networks, interregional trade routes, and the quiet work of copyists. In the Slovak town of Levoča, a tablature of parts of the "Musikalische Exequien" SWV 279-281 and the "Psalms of David" SWV 22-47 has been preserved. Johann Schimrack (died 1657) appropriated the works of his Dresden colleague in this way and subsequently wrote his own works in a related style. Alongside Schimrack, Samuel Marckfelner (1621-1674) also emerges in the European soundscape of the Schütz era.

The ensemble Le Nuove Musiche (Bratislava) and the 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" and make audible the traces of a practice that thought and acted in exchange.