Germany's greatest 17th century composer: Heinrich Schütz  Born
within 40 years of Martin Luther's death, Heinrich Schütz
(1585-1672) conferred musical greatness on Protestant church
music in the German language. He left behind around 500 works –
almost exclusively settings of texts from the Luther Bible.
Schütz was born in Köstritz and is remembered there with events
and exhibitions at the Heinrich Schütz House – his birthplace, a
former inn.  Schütz was a choirboy aged 13 when he was
discovered by the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, who paid for his
tuition including under Gabrieli in Venice. It was later with
reluctance that he allowed his protégé to move to Dresden.  In
Dresden, Schütz held the post of court kapellmeister to the
Elector of Saxony for 55 years. They were difficult times
because the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) was raging in Germany.
Schütz's legacy is commemorated in Dresden's Church of Our Lady,
by a stele near the Zwinger Palace and at the Heinrich Schütz
House on Frauengasse.  In 1651 Schü