Weihnachtshistorie

Throughout his long life, Heinrich Schütz continually set himself new challenges. Of all the genres of church music he undertook, the oratorio offers us his most contrasting ideas. His Historia der Geburt Jesu Christi (1664) serves as a model in many respects for the genre that would later be used by the musicians of Johann Sebastian Bach's generation; the score that Vox Luminis used for this recording has been reconstructed from manuscript sources in the Düben collection in Uppsala. The album concludes with a series of particularly festive motets for the Christmas season by Heinrich Schütz and his renowned contemporary Andreas Hammerschmidt.