Heinrich Schütz - Canticum B Simeonis, Musikalische Exequien | The Marian Consort

This final movement from Schütz Funeral Music for Heinrich II of Reuss is an astonishing juxtaposition of the texts of the Nunc Dimittis, sung by a five-part choir of lower voices, and the words of Selig sind die toten (‘Blessed are the dead’) taken by a trio of soloists representing the ‘beata anima’ or ‘blessed soul’ on its journey to the afterlife. Schütz specifically requests that this trio be spatially separated from the main group and also includes dynamic effects in the lower-voice choir, with ‘fortiter’ and ‘submisse’ markings intended to imitate echoes, showing a keen awareness of use of space as a tool to add dramatic weight to the message of the music and text. LYRICS Lord, now You let Your servant go in peace, as You said. For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You offered for all people, a light to enlighten all Gentiles, and for the glory of Your people Israel. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them. They