Meine Seele erhebt den Herren

Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672), the most acclaimed German composer of the 17th century, worked mainly at the court in Dresden, where musical life languished during the Thirty Years’ War. Fortunately, he was given chances to travel, and he spent considerable time in both Italy and Denmark, where conditions were much more pacific. His mature music shows an ability to absorb the latest style of his mentor, Giovanni Gabrieli, with whom Schütz studied between 1609 and 1612. Gabrieli cultivated the antiphonal sound of split choirs or ensembles, for which he used the term “sacred symphonies” (volumes of Sacrae symphoniae appeared in 1597 and 1615). He also wrote several settings of the German Magnificat text for two four-part choirs, culminating in the 1669 version.
Meine Seele erhebt den Herren opens in restrained staggered entrances, but Schütz quickly keys in on the expressive power of pulling the individual choirs together to create the distinctive Venetian antiphonal sound. Some moments call for walls of massive ensemble sound; others break apart with rapid points of imitation. These contrasts then come together to create a stirring minute-long Amen filled with rich sonorities yet meditative and subdued.

(c) Jason Stell