COMPOSER HEINRICH SCHÜTZ
(October 8 (Julian calendar), 1585 – November 6, 1672)
Heinrich Schütz, born in Köstritz and was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi. He wrote what is thought to be the first German opera, Dafne, performed at Torgau in 1627, of which the music has since been lost. He is commemorated as a musician in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on July 28 with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel.
Schütz Life
In 1590 Schütz family moved to Weißenfels, Germany, where his father Christoph managed the inn "Zum Ring". When Schütz lived with his parents, his musical talents were discovered by Moritz von Hessen-Kassel in 1599.
After being a choir-boy he went on to study law at Marburg before going to Venice from 1609–1612 to study music with Giovanni Gabrieli. Gabrieli is the only person Schütz ever referred to as being his teacher. He also inherited a ring from Gabrieli shortly before the latter's death. He subsequently had a short stint as organist at Kassel before moving to Dresden in 1615 to work as court composer to the Elector of Saxony.
In Dresden Schütz sowed the seeds of what is now the "Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden" (Dresden State Orchestra), but left there on several occasions. In 1628, he went to Venice again, where he met and studied with Claudio Monteverdi.
In 1633 he was invited to Copenhagen to compose the music for wedding festivities there, eventually returning to Dresden in 1635. He again conducted an extended visit to Denmark in 1641. In 1655, the year that his daughter Euphrosyne died, he accepted an ex officio post as Kapellmeister (person in charge of music-making) at Wolfenbüttel, Germany.
Schütz died in Dresden from a stroke in 1672 at the age of 87. He was buried in the Dresden Frauenkirche but his tomb has been destroyed.
Schütz style
Schütz's compositions show the influence of his teacher Gabrieli and of Monteverdi. His best known works are in the field of sacred music, ranging from solo voice with instrumental accompaniment to a cappella choral music, which is the vocal music without instrumental accompaniment.
Practical considerations were certainly responsible for part of this change: the Thirty Years' War had devastated the musical infrastructure of Germany, and it was no longer practical or even possible to put on the gigantic works in the Venetian style which marked his earlier period.
Schütz was one of the last composers to write in a modal style. His harmonies often result from the contrapuntal alignment of voices rather than from any sense of "harmonic motion". Much of his music shows a strong tonal pull when approaching cadences.
Almost no secular music by Schütz has survived, save for a few domestic songs and no purely instrumental music at all, even though he had a reputation as one of the finest organists in Germany.
Schütz was of great importance in bringing new musical ideas to Germany from Italy, and as such had a large influence on the German music which was to follow. The style of the north German organ school derives largely from Schütz.
Schütz major's works
There are over 500 total surviving individual pieces by Schütz.
Most of these contain multiple pieces of music; single published works are listed in the complete work list, as are major unpublished works such as the Seven Last Words, and the Passions according Matthew, Luke and John.
The following are major published works:
- Il primo libro de madrigali (first book of madrigals) (opus 1, Venice, 1611)
- Psalmen Davids (Book 1) (opus 2, Dresden, 1619
- Historia der... Aufferstehung... (The Resurrection) (opus 3, Dresden, 1623)
- Cantiones sacrae (opus 4, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1625)
- Becker Psalter (opus 5, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1628, revised 1661)
- Symphoniae sacrae (Book 1) (opus 6, Venice, 1629)
- Musikalische Exequien (opus 7, Dresden, 1636)
- Kleine geistliche Konzerte (Book 1) (opus 8, Leipzig, 1636)
- Kleine geistliche Konzerte (Book 2) (opus 9, Leipzig, 1639)
- Symphoniae sacrae (Book 2) (opus 10, Dresden, 1647)
- Geistliche Chor-Music (opus 11, Dresden, 1648)
- Symphoniae sacrae (Book 3) (opus 12, Dresden, 1650)
- Zwölf geistliche Gesänge (opus 13, Dresden, 1657)
- Historia, der... Geburt... Jesu Christi (The Nativity), (Dresden, 1664)
- Königs und Propheten 119er Psalm... (Psalm 119, Psalm 100, and German Magnificat: "Swan Song") ("opus ultimum" (the last work), Dresden, 1671)
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