The death of a nobleman in 17th-century Germany was an event that warranted the highest level of attention. When Prince Heinrich der Jngere died in 1635, celebrated composer and organist Heinrich Schtz was entrusted with composing the music to accompany religious texts personally selected by the devout prince the year before. This rather macabre set of instructions resulted in some of the composer's most beautiful and haunting music, the Musikalische Exequien, and Schtz even structured the co