Heinrich Schütz

SCHÜTZ, Heinrich. b. Gera, Saxony, 1585 (baptized 9 October); d. 6 November 1672. Schütz was the most important German composer of the 17th century, with an unprecedented contemporary international reputation. Born at Gera, he grew up in Weissenfels where his musical gifts were noticed in 1598 by Landgrave Moritz of Hessen-Kassel, who stayed overnight in the inn run by Schütz’s father Christoph. The Landgrave subsequently arranged for the young Schütz to become a choirboy in his court capelle in Kassel and continue his education there at the Collegium Mauritianum. In 1608 he began to study law at Marburg University. Since the leading Italian composer Giovanni Gabrieli in Venice was getting...