Schütz: Schwanengesang, Op. 13

Featuring

Hans-Christoph Rademann
Dorothee Mields
Gerlinde Sämann
Stefan Kunath
David Erler
Tobias Mäthger

Georg Poplutz
Martin Schicketanz
Felix Schwandtke
Margret Baumgartl
Juliane Laake
Sarah Perl
Frauke Hess
Friederike Otto
Julia Nagel
Sebastian Krause
Fernando Günther
Stephan Rath
Stefan Maass
Matthias Müller-Mohr
Matthias Perl
Clemens Schlemmer
Michaela Hasselt
Dresdner Kammerchor
Heinrich Schütz

Did you know?

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Schütz considered Psalm 119, verse 54 – 'Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage' – to be the motto for his life as a composer of sacred music.

Recording & Production

This recording is part of the first complete recording of Heinrich Schütz's works, a project initiated in 2006 by Hans-Christoph Rademann, the artistic director of the Dresdner Kammerchor.

Compositional Technique

Psalm 119 is structured as an acrostic, where the initial letters of its 176 verses follow the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, eight verses per letter.

Composition History

Heinrich Schütz's 'Schwanengesang' (Swansong) is his setting of Psalm 119, which he completed in 1671, just a year before his death.

Historical Context

The manuscript of Schütz's 'Schwanengesang' survived the bombardment of Dresden in 1760 and the destruction of Guben in WWII due to fortunate relocations.

Composition History

Schütz's 'Schwanengesang' also includes two earlier works, Psalm 100 and a German Magnificat, which he wanted to secure through printing as part of his complete works.

Compositional Technique

Schütz condensed the 22 acrostic sections of Psalm 119 into eleven musical sections, each ending with a 'lesser doxology' (Glory be to the Father and to the Son…).