SCHÜTZ, HEINRICH

Schütz, Heinrich: translation

(baptized 9 October 1585, Köstritz, Germany – 6 November 1672, Dresden)

The greatest German composer of the 17th century, his talent was spotted by the Landgrave Moritz, who took over Schütz’s education in 1599 and sent him toVeniceto study withGiovanni Gabrielifrom 1609–1612. In 1615, he joined the court of the Elector of Saxony Johann Georg in Dresden and remained there for the rest of his life except for a short stay in Venice from 1627–1629 to study withClaudio Monteverdiand a sojourn with the Crown Prince Christian of Denmark from 1633–1635 to avoid the disastrous effects of the Thirty Years War. Schütz’s surviving works are almost entirely sacred and command all the various idioms that were available to sacred composers in the first half of the 17th century, although he rarely usedchorales.His major publications fall into four categories. (The SWVSchützwerkeverzeichniscatalog numbers generally follow his publications, and so give a rough chronological order.)

Simple arrangements ofpsalmparaphrases by Cornelius Becker appeared asPsalmen Davids(1628, 90 works).Motetsthat approximate thestile anticoin texture but are filled with chromaticisms and other expressive syntax from Italian madrigals were published as {}Cantiones Sacrae(1625, four voices andcontinuo, 41 works) and {}Geistliche Chormusik(1648, five voices and continuo, 29 works). Small-scalesacred concertosfor solo voices andinstrumentswere published asSymphoniae Sacrae(Part 1, 1629, 20 works; Part 2, 1647, 27 works) andKleine Geistliche Conzerte(Part 1, 1636, 24 works; Part 2, 1639, 32 works). Large-scale sacred concertos employing solo voices, instruments, andcori spezzation the Venetian model of Gabrieli appeared inPsalmen Davids(1619, 26 works) and {}Symphonie Sacrae(Part 3, 1650, 21 works).

Schütz also composed a funeral service, theMusicalische Exequien(1636), and threepassionson St. Matthew, St. Luke, and St. John (all 1666) and threeoratorios: on the resurrection (Historia{}Auferstehung, 1623), the Seven Last Words (c. 1650), and theChristmas Oratorio(1660).