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Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672):

Choral Composer Extraordinaire

CHESTER L. ALWES

his article commemorates
the 350th anniversary of the
T death of German compos-
er Heinrich Schütz (Henricus Sag-
1
ittarius ) on November 6, 1672, and
makes a humble plea for present-day
choirs to rediscover his amazing choral
music. General histories of music por-
tray Schütz as the conduit whereby the
marvels of the early Italian Baroque (pri-
marily, the concerted, polychoral style
associated with the Gabrielis and San
Marco in Venice, and, later, the focus on
smaller concertos intended for solo voices
and continuo) make their way to Germa-
ny. Unlike his older colleague, Michael
Praetorius (1571–1621), Schütz had the
advantage of studying in Venice with
Giovanni Gabrieli (ca. 1554/57–1612).
Schütz’s lengthy career not only trans-
lates the Venetian polychoral style into
German (Die Psalmen Davids, 1619), but
he also receives credit for the fi rst Ger-
man opera (Dafne, 1627 [lost]), the fi rst
German oratorio (Die Auferstehungshistoria,
1623), and the elevation of text to a new
vital role in German choral music. In
his novella, The Meeting at Telgte, Günther
Grass has him making an uninvited ap-
pearance at a fictional meeting of Ger-

man artists after the Thirty Years War to
discuss if it were even possible to create
viable art after that cultural catastrophe.
Chester L. Alwes
Professor Emeritus of Choral Music and Music Education
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
calwes@illinois.edu

CHORAL JOURNAL September 2022 Volume 63 Number 2 13