Lesson One: Heinrich Schutz

Who was Heinrich Schutz? (1585-1672). The greatest composer of the 17th Century and founder of the Baroque style. His most famous disciple, once removed, was the reknowned Johann Sebastian Bach.

Historical context. Heinrich Schutz grew up during the Elizabethan period when William Shakespeare was active in England. The theological conflict between Protestants and Roman Catholics was beginning to turn bloody. England had finally entered the Dutch war for independence against Catholic Spain at about the time of Schutz's birth. In response, Phillip II sent his Armada north in 1588, only to be annihilated in the English Channel. In France the Battle between Rome and the French Huguenots came to a temporary respite with the Edict of Nantes in 1598.

Just when things seemed to be quieting down on the Continent, hostilities erupted again in 1618, this time in Schutz's own backyard -- Protestant Germany. Heinrich Schutz was a young man of 33 when the Thirty Years War broke out. Protestants in Austria were forced to convert by the Holy Roman Emperor, but most fled the country. The Duke of Wallenstein and General Tilly moved north into Germany and the Swedish hero Adolfus Gustavus moved south to challenge them. For thirty years armies swept back and forth over Germany, leaving her landscape desolate and approximately ¼ of her population dead. Hostilities finally ceased with the defeat of Catholic Austria at the hands of Catholic France.

Summary of Schutz's work. The War was a disruptive influence in Schutz's life, interrupting his career as chapel master (Kapellmeister) in Dresden. He held this post for 55 years except for a short interlude as court conductor in Copenhagen when dislocated by the War. He married late at age 34 and his wife died after only six years. Schutz never remarried, committing his life instead to composition of church music. This music was a source of comfort and strength not only for himself, but for the war-weary German people.

The Psalms are the Church's great book of praise and worship. Setting the Psalms and other Scripture to music was the great work of Schutz's life. Here is a selection (Psalm 121) from his first masterpiece, The Psalms of David, (1619) illustrating the skill with which he blended the words and "hidden music" of the Psalms. With this he combined the bold dissonance and massive sonority (loud, full, deep) of the Venetian style to establish the German Baroque. Contrasts are drawn in the Baroque, for example between various groups of voices and instruments or between various moods (They that sow in tears shall reap in joy).

Here again, notice how the words go hand in glove with the music in Schutz's 1664 Christmas Oratorio, a sketch of biblical history. Heinrich Schutz exalted in the incarnation of Christ. The last thing he wrote was The German Magnificat, based on one of his favorite passages of scripture.

Another great theme of his work was the Passion of Christ, lying as it does at the heart of the gospel in the death of Christ for the helpless sinner (Rom. 5:8). This is portrayed vividly in his great oratorio, The Seven Last Words, which captures the heart of the Christian message. Notice how he uses sharp dissonance to convey the agony of the cross, but does not allow the counterpoint to obscure the message. The music conveys a heartfelt piety and hushed devotion for the work of the Savior. An oratorio is a musical presentation of a sacred subject, as opposed to an opera which is a staged presentation involving actors.

Implications for subsequent history. Schutz's epitaph reads: "The Christian Singer of Psalms -- A joy for foreigners, for Germans a light." This was his great legacy; it appears to us not only in his own work, but in that of his more famous disciples, Buxetude and Bach.

Biblical analysis. Schutz's work is profoundly biblical in its direct employment of the sacred text in a musical setting. He provides the finest musical complement to the theological groundwork laid by Luther, Calvin and other Reformers earlier in the century. As opposed to dead orthodoxy, theology that lives in the heart will express itself in the music of worship: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16).

Corrective or Prescriptive Actions. Make it a habit to listen to the music of the great Christian composers such as Schutz and Bach. As you cultivate a taste for their style you will begin to turn away from that which is inferior.