Geistliche Chormusik

RENAISSANCE II | Heinrich Schütz and Hugo Distler in the Shadow of War

with the presentation of the International Heinrich Schütz Prize

Hugo Distler (1908-1942) gazed nostalgically at the age of the Reformation, finding in its worldview and spirit what he missed in his own time: a sense of unity transcending the individual. The music of that era became his model and refuge.

While Heinrich Schütz's life and his "Geistliche Chormusik" of 1648 were decisively shaped by the Thirty Years' War, Distler's life unfolded under the shadow of rising Nazism and the Second World War. His contemporaries Günter Raphael (1903-1960), Hermann Grabner (1886-1969), and Helmut Bornefeld (1906-1990) also looked to Schütz, recognizing in his works an artistic stance that seemed to them a guide for their own age. The Dresden Chamber Choir brings together in this concert works that did not arise as a retreat from history, but can be heard today as testimony within it.

NOTE: Printed flyers for the Heinrich Schütz Music Festival 2026 list the Palace Chapel in the Residence Palace as the venue. We apologize for this error and look forward to welcoming you at the Church of St. Anne in Dresden.