Heinrich Schütz: psalms, passions and sacred concertos

About Heinrich Schütz

Schütz was born in Köstritz in Thuringia in 1585 and grew up in Weißenfels, where his father kept an inn. In 1598 Landgrave Moritz of Hesse-Kassel heard the boy sing at his father's inn and arranged for him to be educated at his court in Kassel; he later studied law at Marburg before going to Venice in 1609 to study with Giovanni Gabrieli. He returned to Germany in 1612, served as organist in Kassel, and moved to Dresden in 1615 as court composer to the Elector of Saxony. He died there on 6 November 1672.

The catalogue's spine is the SWV numbering, which runs through the printed collections: Psalmen Davids of 1619, Cantiones sacrae of 1625, the Becker Psalter of 1628, three books of Symphoniae sacrae, the Kleine geistliche Konzerte of 1636 and 1639, and the Geistliche Chormusik of 1648. The late collections are here as well, including the Schwanengesang of 1671, whose German Magnificat closes the set. Most entries are short: a motet or concerto runs a few minutes, and the 266-minute total is built from dozens of such pieces.

The Passion settings belong to the composer's last years: the St Matthew Passion, SWV 479, dates from 1666 and sets the Gospel narrative in the austere, largely unaccompanied style of the late works. Fili mi Absalom, SWV 269, comes from the 1629 Symphoniae sacrae and gives David's lament to a bass solo with instruments. Between those poles sit the motet Der Engel sprach zu den Hirten, SWV 395, from Geistliche Chormusik, and the concerto Ich will den Herren loben allezeit, SWV 306, from the second book of Kleine geistliche Konzerte.

Listening and playing notes

Schütz sets words before he sets lines. Listen for the way a single syllable can change the texture: a chromatic phrase for grief, a quick homophonic passage for a crowd. In the Passions the Evangelist carries the narrative in flexible recitation, so keep the pulse speech-like and resist a steady tactus. The polychoral pieces need space between choirs, not volume. Latin motets from the Cantiones sacrae reward a dry acoustic and restrained vibrato, while the German chorale settings can take a fuller sound.

Selected scores

1. Aller Augen warten auf Dich, Herre

   The most-viewed Schütz score here: a German setting of Psalm 145:15.

2. Psalm 58

   One of two catalogue files for Psalm 58; this one carries no key or collection in its title.

3. Psalm 58 in G Minor

   The second Psalm 58 file, labelled in G minor; the catalogue does not identify the setting.

4. Meine Seele erhebt den Herren, SWV 494

   The German Magnificat that closes the Schwanengesang, the collection Schütz finished in 1671.

5. Meine Seele erhebt den Herren, SWV 426

   A four-part Magnificat from the 1657 Zwölf geistliche Gesänge, distinct from the late setting.

6. Bone Jesu, SWV 313

   A compact Latin concerto from the second book of Kleine geistliche Konzerte, published in Leipzig in 1639.

7. Fili mi Absalom

   David's lament for Absalom, SWV 269, scored for bass solo with instruments in the 1629 Symphoniae sacrae.

8. St Matthew Passion, SWV 479

   The 1666 Passion according to Matthew, in the austere style of Schütz's final decade.

9. Ich will den Herren loben allezeit, SWV 306

   A concerto from the second book of Kleine geistliche Konzerte, setting Psalm 34.

10. Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, SWV 342

    A sacred concerto from the 1647 Symphoniae sacrae II, for voices and instruments.