Psalmen Davids
| Psalmen Davids | |
|---|---|
| by Heinrich Schütz | |
Title page of the first edition, 1619
|
|
| Catalogue | Op. 2, SWV 22 to 47 |
| Genre | Sacred vocal music |
| Text | Psalms |
| Language | German |
| Dedication | Johann Georg I |
| Published | 1 June 1619 in Dresden |
Psalmen Davids (Psalms of David) is a collection of sacred choral music, settings mostly of psalms in German by Heinrich Schütz, who had studied the Venetian polychoral style with Giovanni Gabrieli. Book 1 was printed in Dresden in 1619 as his Opus 2. It comprises 26 individual settings, which were assigned numbers 22 to 47 in the Schütz-Werke-Verzeichnis (SWV). Most of them use the text of a complete psalm in the translation by Martin Luther.
The full title of the publiction, "Psalmen Davids / sampt / Etlichen Moteten und Concerten / mit acht und mehr Stimmen / Nebenst andern zweyen Capellen daß dero etliche / auff drey und vier Chor nach beliebung gebraucht / werden können", indicates that some motets and concertos are added to the psalm settings, and the scoring is for eight and more voices and two groups of instrumentalists, so that in some pieces three and even four choirs can participate in polychoral settings.
In 1619, Schütz took up his office as Hofkapellmeister at the court of the Elector of Saxony, Johann Georg I., in Dresden, succeeding Rogier Michael. On 1 June, he married Magdalena, the daughter of Christian Wildeck, a court official. Planned well, the Psalmen Davids appeared the same day, dedicated to the Elector.
Schütz mentions in the introduction: "daß er etzliche Teutsche Psalmen auf Italienische Manier komponiert habe, zu welcher [er] von [seinem] lieben und in aller Welt hochberühmten Praeceptore Herrn Johan Gabrieln / ... / mit fleiß angeführet worden ... war" (that he composed several German psalms in Italian manner, to which he was induced intensely by his dear preceptor Giovanni Gabrieli, highly famous in all the world).
Schütz chose 20 psalms, two of which he set twice, and added movements based on a hymn, the first stanza of Johann Gramann's "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren", and on texts from the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. Most, but not all psalms are ended by the doxology (in the table short: dox), "Ehre sei dem Vater" (Glory be to the Father). Translations of SWV 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 33, 36, 37, 39 and 40 are provided by Emmanuel Music
...
Wikipedia