The present recording contains selected compositions from the first, second and third parts of the "Symphoniae sacrae". Heinrich Schütz, like Hans Leo Haßler before him and Handel, Hasse and Mozart after him, had travelled to Italy to get to know southern art, to engage with it and to adapt it for his own work. work. His first stay, from 1609 to 1612, was an apprenticeship with Giovanni Gabrieli, the organist of San Marco in Venice. Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel had sent him there "because he noticed a special inclination towards music in him, and the world-famous musician Giovanni Gabrieli was still alive in Venice, so he was willing to send him there at his own expense so that he could continue his studium musicum properly". Although the new monodic style had already superseded the old polyphony at that time, in Venice it still proved to be the mainstay of Gabrieli's colourful polychoralism, comparable to the works of Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto in the visual arts. However, elements of the concertante, homophonic style were already appearing in Venice, and Schütz eagerly absorbed all of this in order to later incorporate it into his work. It was only a small step to what Schütz brought with him from his second stay in Italy: the influence of Monteverdi's art, the monody and the new kind of concertising. How much Schütz appreciated this way of composing can be seen from the fact that he printed the "Symphoniae sacrae I" for soloists during his stay in Italy. They almost reached the Monteverdi style. Schütz was only to achieve it completely in the second part of the "Symphoniae sacrae". Now the human voice and instrument (the latter particularly like to be paired together) are in concert, now they fight with each other. They are on an equal footing with the singing voice, thus influencing each other. In the process, a tonal symbolism develops that becomes increasingly characteristic of Schütz's relationship to the text. Initially, the texts are still in Latin. The language used in the Catholic liturgy gives the work an interdenominational character. The influence of the south on the immigrant from the Protestant north is also noticeable here. We get to know three of the "Symphoniae sacrae I" on our recording. In "Cantabo Domino in vita mea", the solo tenor is contrasted with two violins as a "Sinfonia". The musical basis is formed by the "Bassus pro Organo", which is supplemented by chords. These chords were not written out, but only indicated by the so-called "Bezifferung" (¨figuring¨) - the essence of the thoroughbass practice that developed around 1600. The basic idea of the text, "praising the Lord", is vividly translated into music: firstly through the increasing repetition of the word "Cantabo", its confirmation, so to speak, and secondly through the character of the "Sinfonia", which develops into a lively, almost exuberant sixteenth-note dance. An almost capricious flourish is added at the end with the note "Passagio" (defined by Praetorius, the learned encyclopaedist and friend of Heinrich Schütz, as "swift runs", as ornaments to be improvised). The same high-pitched mood prevails in the concerto "Jubilate Deo omnis terra" for bass and two "flautino" (piccolo flute), in place of which Schütz himself also suggests two violins. In consideration of the very low solo part, the piece is sometimes transposed from F major to A flat major or even to A major. However, this means that one of Schütz's finest examples of motivic symbolism is lost, namely the consistency with which Schütz moves to the low D for the word "terra" (earth). For a singer like Theo Adam, the original key is more appropriate. Schütz also uses the technique of achieving urgency through incessant repetition in the concerto "Venite ad me" for tenor and two violins. "Come, come, come to me", this invitation includes the "ye that labour and are heavy laden". The result is a three-part form that determines the entire concerto. The second part of the "Symphoniae sacrae" ("Symphoniarum Sacrarum Secunda Pars"), published in 1647, is characterised not only by an increased mastery of the new Italian style, but also by a turn towards the German language, symbolic of Schütz's desire to melt the Italian model into the German tradition. He succeeded in this convincingly, as our examples, the concerto for two tenors and two violins "Der Herr ist mein Licht und mein Heil" and "Zweierlei bitte ich, Herr, von dir", clearly show this. Here, the concerto, the mutual enhancement of two partners, is given by the scoring with two tenors. And indeed, it is a continuous affirmation, whether in succession or in the togetherness of the virtuosic voices: "The Lord is my light and my salvation". One detail of this concerto, one of Schütz's many works that takes up the idea of war and peace, deserves to be emphasised. The setting of the words "Wenn sich Krieg wider mich erhebet" with the contrasting motif "so verlasse ich mich auf ihn" is further proof of Schütz's masterful dramatic composition. In the second concerto, traditional numerical symbolism demands that the "zweilei bitte ich" be set as a duet, i.e. two tenors plus two violins.
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The general character of the third part of the "Symphoniae sacrae" has already been discussed in the introduction. The contribution to the Christmas story ¨Siehe, es erschien der Engel des Herren" (¨Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared"), has a vivid depiction of the flight to Egypt and two of the most beautiful, uplifting pieces, which are easily understood. The dialogue between the parents, Mary (mezzo) and Josephus (bass), with the "Puer (child) Jesu" (soprano) in ¨Mein Sohn, warum hast du uns das getan?¨ ("My son, why have you done this to us?"), the story of the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple, is here framed as an operatic or at least oratorio-like scene. The characters are aptly characterised. ¨Vater unser¨ ("Our Father") for five-part choir (soprano, mezzo, two tenors and bass), is initially without instruments (not without the basso continuo, of course), as these are saved for the conclusion, which is heightened to hymn-like fullness with a "complement" ensemble. The Concert "O süßer Jesu Christ", scored for two sopranos and two tenors, in its simplicity and unpretentiousness, is quite suitable for arousing the interest of listeners who are not so familiar with this music. The two pairs of voices are introduced one after the other, unite, whereby either the upper voice is coupled with the lower voice or the two inner voices are coupled with each other, then alternate with each other, reflecting the words "Freud und Lust" in the joy of thirds and in the moving, free imitations, until then, in a kind of quintessence, carried chorally and with the addition of a "Complementum" (supplement), namely "Voces et instrumenta" (voices and instruments) the piece is concluded. The following quartet "Seid barmherzig" ("Be merciful") contains a veritable wealth of genuinely Schützian witty ideas and their processing, so that it is worthwhile to listen to them while thinking, e.g. the insistent call travelling downwards through the four voices: "Seid barmherzig!", the vivid duetino of the two blind men, one of whom wants to show the other the way, but who then both - you can literally see it before you - "fall into the pit" (¨in die Grube fallen¨). The splinter in your neighbour's eye and the beam in your own, which you are supposed to pull out first before you judge your neighbour, you "see" them too, one small and wafer-thin, the other all the more massive and strong, which is then condensed into the eight-part exclamation ¨Du Heuchler¨ ("You hypocrite"), closely interlocked in the choral groups. One of the most famous pieces in the collection is "Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich?". As early as 1834, C. von Winterfeld, the old master of German musicology and rediscoverer of Heinrich Schütz, pointed out the uniqueness of this concerto, which he rightly compared to the "Hallelujah" in Handel's "Messiah". Schütz has assembled an orchestra of enormous proportions here, a six-part main choir, plus two four-part "complement" choirs and, as accompaniment, organ and two violins. From this he forms the haunting call in powerful, harrowing drama (what a tremendous loss for German music that Schütz's opera "Dafne" is lost!): ¨Saul, was verfolgst du mich?" (¨Saul, what persecutest thou me?"). Rising from mysterious depths at the beginning and already in the second bar with bold dissonances that break every rule, it is followed by the urgent warning: ¨Es wird dir schwer werden, wider den Stachel zu löcken" (¨It will be difficult for you to lash out against the thorn"), which wanders through the voices or is linked to the call "Saul, Saul, Saul" in the complement choruses. The "persecute" also finds its musical expression towards the end. The whole thing pushes far into the future with almost impressionistic colours. Not all concerts can be analysed in detail here. So the kind reader (and listener) will be content with a few hints. The concerto "Hütet euch, daß eure Herzen nicht beschweret werden" is a vocal movement for six voices, as is the "Herr, wie lang willt du mein so gar vergessen", joined here by an instrumentarium of six strings, which are then also given a longer introductory "Symphonia". At first almost soloistically loosened up, the voices finally come together in a roaring song of praise. No. 10 of the collection belongs to the quartet concertos: "Lasset uns den Herren, unsern Gott, loben", a joyful prayer of thanksgiving that is radiantly intensified in the finale. The five-part concerto "Meister, wir wissen, dass du wahrhaftig bist" is based on the Gospel of the Interest rate. From the introductory "Symphonia" (two strings and bassoon) with its agitated quavers and semiquavers, one can recognise the voices of the deceitful Pharisees. This is followed by a scene with the "Evangelist" reporting the plot (sung not by a soloist but by the choir, as was customary at the time) and Jesus' reply, which is represented by the tenor, until the answer is repeated several times by the entire choir with a "complement" ensemble. The concluding sextet concerto "Nun Hanket alle Gott!" speaks to us particularly forcefully in the present. It is part of the invocation of peace that is so richly contained in Schütz's work, as in that of other great German composers of the past and present. "Und verleihe immerdar Friede, Friede" is the core movement of the piece, and as the work was composed in the year of peace 1648, it ends with a joyfully moving polyphonic "Allelujah". Karl Laux (1969) ETERNA (8 25 964) 1969 ETERNA (8 26 008) 1970
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