蜜芽传媒

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of German early Baroque master Heinrich Sch眉tz. Today things turn serious, as Sch眉tz is swept up in the convulsions of the 30 Years鈥� War.

鈥榃ar, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin!鈥� 鈥� a sentiment that anyone living in the German states during the 30-year period from 1618 to 1648 would have had no trouble relating to. What began as a little local difficulty at Hrad膷any Castle in Prague 鈥� when Protestant rebels turfed the proposed new Catholic governors of Bohemia out of a third-storey window 鈥� gradually escalated into a politically driven, pan-European bloodbath in which, according to some estimates, the German states as a whole lost up to 30 percent of their population. All of this, of course, impacted hugely on musical life 鈥� court musical establishments were slimmed down; musicians were laid off, or went unpaid. You can hear the effect in Sch眉tz鈥檚 music. His Kleine geistliche Konzerte, from the late 1630s, have an economy of means that may have been necessitated by the austerity of the time but in Sch眉tz鈥檚 hands actually serve to intensify the music鈥檚 emotional impact.

鈥極, Herr, hilf鈥�, SWV 402 (Symphoniae Sacrae III)
Ulrike Hofbauer, Isabel Jantschek, soprano
Georg Poplutz, tenor
Dresdner Barockorchester
Hans-Christoph Rademann, director

Syncharma musicum, SWV 49
Maria Skiba, Heidi Maria Taubert, Dorothea Wagner, soprano
Tobias Hunger, Stephan G盲hler, tenor
Cappella Sagittariana Dresden
Norbert Schuster, conductor

Da pacem, Domine鈥�, SWV 465
Cantus C枚lln
Musica Fiata
Konrad Jungh盲nel, director

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, SWV 328
Isabel Schicketanz, Gerlinde S盲mann, soprano
Georg Poplutz, Tobias M盲thger, tenor
Matthias M眉ller, viola da gamba
Ludger R茅my, organ and director

O s眉sser, o freundlicher Herr Jesu Christ, SWV 285
Georg Poplutz, tenor
Ludger R茅my, organ and director

Erh枚re mich, wenn ich dich rufe, SWV 289
Dorothee Mields, soprano
Ulrike Hofbauer, soprano
Stefan Maass, theorbo
Matthias M眉ller, viola da gamba
Ludger R茅my, organ and director

Ist Gott f眉r uns, SWV 329
Gerlinde S盲mann, soprano
David Erler, alto
Georg Poplutz, tenor
Tobias Berndt, bass
Stefan Maass, theorbo
Matthias M眉ller, viola da gamba
Ludger R茅my, organ and director

Ich bin eine rufende Stimme, SWV 383; Verleih uns Frieden gen盲diglich, SWV 372; Das Wort ward Fleisch, SWV 385; Das ist je gewisslich wah, SWV 388 (Geistliche Chor-Music)
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki, conductor

Danket dem Herren, denn er ist freundlich, SWV 45 (Psalmen Davids, Op 2)
Cantus C枚lln
Concerto Palatino
Konrad Jungh盲nel, director

Produced by Chris Barstow for 蜜芽传媒 Wales