Now regarded as one of the greatest composers in early musical history, Heinrich Schutz cultivated all the principal forms of Lutheran sacred music, serving as Kapellmeister to the electoral court at Dresden from 1615 to his death in 1672. Since, however, his work is so intensely bound up with the German biblical language, the full magnitude of his achievement has only gradually been recognized outside his native country. Here Basil Smallman brings the composer and his work vividly alive for the non-German reader. His principal works are examined in chronological order, with interspersed biographical chapters covering his years in Italy and Denmark, his relationships with leading musicians and patrons, the hardships of the Thirty Years War, and the machinations of court life. One of the greatest creative figures of his time, Schutz emerges as a giant amongst his lesser contemporaries. This book will bring him and his work to a new and international audience.