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The Musikalische Exequien (SWV 279-81) by Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) is perhaps the most striking composition by the most important German composer of the 17th century. The three works comprising these “Musical Obsequies” were composed by the Dresden Kapellmeister for the funeral of Herr Heinrich Posthumus Reuß (b. 1572), a member of the minor nobility in whose dominion Schütz was born and with whom he maintained a respectful friendship throughout his life. We know from surviving documents that the deeply religious Posthumus (thus named because he was born two months after the death of his father), ever mindful of his mortality, designed his own coffin and had it constructed secretly a year before his death on December 3, 1635. The final pieces in this program are simple harmonizations of the two hymns sung at the conclusion of the burial service for Heinrich Posthumus. The settings for both are taken from the eighth volume of Michael Praetorius’ expansive Musae Sioniae (Wolfenbüttel, 1610). The melody of “Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin”, perhaps the most popular funerary chorale in the Lutheran Church, was composed by the Reformer himself, Martin Luther, and set to his German paraphrase of the Canticle of Simeon. Combining assurance and Lutheran admonition, the anonymous “Hört auf mit Weinen und Klagen” that concluded the service adjures the faithful to set aside their grief and to take heart in the promised joys of the hereafter.