Anguish of Hell and Peace of Soul

In 1616 Burckhard Grossman, a wealthy man of letters and musical interests, narrowly escaped a life-threatening accident, and as a result vowed to express his gratitude by commissioning 16 composers active in Saxony and Thuringia to set the text of Luther's translation of Psalm 116 in the form of five-voice motets. This collection of German psalm motets demonstrates a remarkable spectrum of musical solutions by musicians of different age, background and training. Grossman's collection published in 1623, survived to the 20th century in only one complete set of partbooks. These partbooks, which were for decades considered lost, have recently surfaced in Poland. The present volume represents the first modern edition of the collection as a whole. Since only five motets were published prior to World War II, most of the works included have not been available for study and performance until now.