Around four hundred years ago, the region of Dithmarschen was a thriving centre of art and culture. The region in Schleswig-Holstein had achieved prosperity through the very fertile marshland and was a focal point for art and culture.

The school headmaster Thomas Selle, who was also a church musician, worked here for a long time and attracted attention with his own demanding compositions.

Selle himself had already compiled manuscripts of these works in extensive collections; Monika Mandelartz has now undertaken years of intensive work studying the sources and has newly arranged and recorded selected pieces.

Thomas Selle was considered one of the major composers of his time alongside Schütz, Schein and Scheidt. The works by Selle and his colleagues are performed on period instruments. Many of his works can be heard on record for the first time and are thus a real enrichment of the repertoire.