Schutz: Symphoniae Sacrae III (V)

SWV 406: O Jesu süß, wer dein gedenkt super Lilia convallium Alexandri Grandis: Contrafactum of a work by Monteverdi's successor Alexander Grandi. Schutz underlaid words and made some minor revisions. It's hard to make a value judgment on such a work when we know that it is not Schutz's music, however a brief description should point out differences in styles. Grandi alternates verses for soloists with ritornellos which remain the same in each iteration. The harmonic touches are similar to something Schutz would do - repetition at the third, as are some of the double suspensions into cadences.

SWV 407: Lasset uns doch den Herren, unsern Gott, loben: A much longer work this time all Schutz. Various verses with the individual soloists culminating in the full complementum praising God. Some classic examples of the old-fashioned motet style here. The shifting soloists over continuo, one, two, then together, maybe a third, then all together and so forth. It's interestig if we look at the ensembles as they shift throughout the piece. Consider: V=Violins; SATB=SATB. V | T S | V | T A (TAS) | (BV) (SAB) | T A (SA) T (ST) | (BV) (TB) S | Tutti. We can see from this, the violins only sound with the Bass, there is a narrative to the two male voices joining - they only join at the end. I wonder if this would be a good place for inquiry in many of these motet-style pieces.

Schutz: Symphoniae Sacrae III (IV)

SWV 404: Feget den altern Sauerteig aus: Strange setting of a strange section of Corinthians - in which there is talk about Christ as the leavened bread. The setting begins with a nother beautiful, if odd, symphonia, followed by essentially a constantly scored bit for all voices more or less all singing evenly, the liner notes refer to "motet-style" I think this is really a good example of a work in the old-style, but not a particularly interesting piece.

SWV 405: O süßer Jesu Christ, wer an dich recht gedenket: A setting of a verse of Bernard de Clairvaux in German translation. Alternation of a number of duos and trios speaking of various aspects of what it means to have Jesus in one's life concluding with the full complement amplifying the message. This is a textbook example of Schutz's art - competently competent, elegantly workman, yet beautiful and rewarding. No surprises. Lovely the way that he sets off the two duos throughout in an almost symbolic way.

Schutz: Symphoniae Sacrae III (III)

SWV 403: Siehe, es erschein der Engel des Herrne Joseph im Traum: Setting of the story from Matthew of the Angel telling Joseph to flee to Egypt. Set in a manner reminscent of the Auferstehunghistorie, particularly in some aspects of the opening chorus depicting the words of the angel. Also of interest is the chromatic writing of the same portending the tortured crucifixion symbol of Bach later and earlier the opening of O Sußer, o Freundlicher from the Kleine Geistliche Konzert. Other points of interest is in the use of the chorus as amplification, through repetition of the words, of the angel and later of God. A clean satisfying setting well in line with his other Biblical narratives.

Schutz: Sinfonia Sacrae III (II)

Wo der Herr nicht das Haus bauet (SWV 400): Setting of Psalm 127. This is a strange piece, it took me two listenings to really get a hld of it. I think the enigma of the work lies mainly in the psalm which speaks of having the Lord as the foundation of a proper family using the metaphor of a night watchman for the husband - if the Lord isn't there, the night watchman will scan the skies in vain: the Lord gives sleep, the Lord gives children. He who has children is like the armed man with a quiver of arrows, he shall fear no enemy. So Schutz divides the setting basically into two parts, the first a gentle three with the singers in thirds, repeating a head motive on "Wo der Herr" the second part introduces the Bass voice and eventualy moves into a stile concitato ala Monteverdi to refer to the enemies at the gate. I think Schutz does a good job foreshadowing the nightwatchman/war motive with the pictoral use of the wathcman's call in the first half, which then returns in the vocal parts toward the end. Second, he has a good time painting out "sleep" and an interesting use of playing off "kinder" against "Siehe" mixing, in effect, the head motives of the two halfs - thus somehow uniting this disparate somewhat disparate Psalm.

Mein Sohn, warum hast du uns das getan? (SWV 401): Conflation of the story from Luke of Jesus at the temple combined with prasie from the 84th Psalm: How beautiful is thy dwelling place. Set in four parts: after a quiet, solemn symfonia the begins low and moves high there is first a "dialogue" of Mary and Joseph looking for Jesus slow and with a low tessitura, the second the child Jesus accompanied by the two violins, a much higher tessitura, a choir praise, more dialogue followed by an interaction of the soloists and the tutti. Tender work.

O Herr, hilf, o Herr, laß wohl gelingen (SWV 402): A small amalgam of two texts, apparently an expansion and filling out of a one of the Kleine Geistliche Konzerte, praising the Lord and asking for prosperity. In three parts with an introductory symphonia. Alternation of duple and triple meter - rhapsodic pleas in duple, triple meter for praise, ending with an almost hocketing between the vocalist and instrumentalists. Interesting the tonal movement of the final repetitions of praise - begun always with the tenor, first starting on D, then C, then Eb, then F. So there is an overall ascent to the larger melodic line, but with that jog downward which keeps it interesting. Otherwise, relatively unremarkable.

Schutz

It is with great joy that I am able to return to my listening of Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672), the greatest German composer prior to Bach. I remember finding a copy of the old recording of the Symphonia Sacrae III of Bernius and dubbing. Recently, I picked up the new recording by Junghanel with Cantus Colnn and have now been able to obtain scores and so am comparing the two recordings. So far, I find the new recording to be better performed and better sounding. I'll provide commentary as it happens. Again these are notes, not analysis.

Symphonia Sacrae III:
Der Herr ist mein Hirt (SWV 398): Gorgeous. Opening salvo retuns at the end, in a ot dull way. Schutz uses word-painting delicately when it is needed and in his own way breaks up the various phrases of the psalm with different sorts of similar, yet distinct melodic phrases and phrasing. Particularly lovely is the way that he sets the phrase "und werde bleiben des hausen der Herren" Also impressive is the way he shifts between duple and triple with the triple being used for the opening and other more lyrical passages. Amazing the color he gets from these ensembles.

Ich hebe meine Augen auf zu den Bergen (SWV 399): Satisfying setting of Pslam 121. It begins with an ornamented solo for the bass later joined by the tenor and violins before what would normally be an opening sinfonia. In this way I think we have a new opening, particularly because of the dotted rhythms in the sinfonia and with this we develop particular narrative symbolic characters for the different instrumental/vocal characters - the bass and tneor become the protagonists the violins take on a holy spirit role and the choir as some sort of resounding voice of God resounding in the valleys. We can see a similar effect in Saul, Saul wa verfolgst du mich. In this way the entrance of the choir serves to amplify - in this very pictoresque way the importat points of the piece - the Lord does not slumber, etc. It ends with a full choir Amen. Beautiful.