In 1623, Heinrich Schutz, working in Dresden during the privations of the Thirty Years War, wrote an oratorio for Easter that was the first known such work by a German composer. Admittedly, it isn’t a terribly cheerful work, but for Schutz these were not terribly cheerful times. What he did was plant a seed, a musical setting by a worldly composer with a following of students, that would culminate a century later in the cantatas and oratorios of any number of German composers. You can probably think of a few.
And 399 Easters later, we’ll feature it on Mozart’s Attic.
