Selig sind die Toten
70 views · Published 18 March 2016 · 6:55 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: LIMO Recording Studio · 2016 · Music
Selig sind die Toten, SWV 391 Selig sind die Toten (Blessed are the dead) is the incipit of a verse from Revelations, 14:13. It is frequently used as a text in funeral music, the most famous setting being this six part motet by Heinrich Schutz, published as no. 23 of his his 1648 collection Geistliche Chormusik. Schutz wrote for a SSATTB group, optional instruments colla parte, and basso continuo ad libitum. Other famous composers, including Mendelssohn, Telemann, and Bach have made use of the text. Heinrich Schutz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi. He wrote what is thought to be the first German opera, Dafne, performed at Torgau in 1627, of which the music has since been lost. He is commemorated as a musician in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on July 28 with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. He was buried in the Dresden Frauenkirche but his tomb has been destroyed.
