Heinrich Schütz was certainly the most outstanding German musician of the 17th century. In 1625, in the middle of the Thirty Years' War, he published his opus 4, the "Cantiones Sacrae", a collection of forty Latin motets in four voices, a work that was an exception both in the composer's oeuvre and in the general musical picture of the time It is one of Schütz's most affect-landed and modern sacred compositions, and there are no Latin motets in the German-speaking world that are comparable in expressiveness to the "Cantiones". Despite all their refinement and intensity, they show a very introverted character, and not only the immense difficulty of the performance suggests a chamber-musical destiny in a small circle. cpo therefore now presents the first complete recording of this opus maximum by Heinrich Schütz in the form that is alone adequate: soloistic. Manfred Cordes, the director of Weser-Renaissance, has gathered five of the most outstanding early music soloists around himself in order to finally awaken this work from Sleeping Beauty's sleep: Mona Spägele, Ralf Popken, Rogers Covey-Crump, John Potter and Peter Kooij. Thomas Ihlenfeld, Chitarrone and Manfred Cordes on the organ support the top ensemble with the motets accompanied by the few B. c. motets . Look forward to the discovery of an absolute masterpiece!