Da Pacem

Then it was without doubt that the deeply affectionate God in high heaven greatly enjoyed the diligent prayer by young and old people of both the male and female sex, for such devotion and fervent calling, pleading, and begging by young and old should have been, that not only the daily sermons and prayer-hours had been attended in great numbers, but also the people next to their small, untrained children in the evenings around seven o’clock in both churches came together, and remained there for three hours; these people, who in such great fear and danger of war, sang with each other such useful and comforting songs, and the preacher there also continuously read a penitential psalm and liturgical prayers.

Kurtze Jedoch eygentliche Warhafftige Beschreibung… (Leipzig, 1633; translated by Thomas Marks)

In 1633, Leipzig was bombarded by grenades and fireballs. This “Short Yet Genuine True Description” is a vivid document of how the people sought solace through music. Outside of regular church services, Days of Prayer and Repentance and Prayer-hours provided communal comfort. During this tumultuous period, Heinrich Schütz, as Kapellmeister to Elector Johann Georg I, created music both for official political events occasioned by the Thirty Years War and that responded to the spiritual needs of his listeners. His music remains a present resonance of his contemporaries’ communal voices.

The political compositions were probably intended as “table music” for these official events.

Teutoniam dudum belli (SWV 338) was published in 1641 by Ambrosius Profe, who also printed an alternate text for Easter. Schütz probably wrote both Latin texts, the political text refers to earlier conflicts and a hope for peace sometime after the Peace of Prague (1635). Schütz’s troped setting of the votive antiphon, Da pacem, Domine (SWV 465) was performed at the opening of the Electoral Assembly in Mühlhausen on 8 October 1627. The antiphon was to be sung by a choir of five viols and one or two voices quietly. The political tropes were acclamations of long life for the three “spiritual” Electors, the Catholic Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne, and the three “secular” Electors, the Duke of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg, and the Duke of Bavaria, along with Ferdinand II, “the most invincible Emperor”, sung by a separate four-part choir who should “articulate the text with elegant grace, and otherwise sing fully”. It was also performed after 1658 with the name “Ferdinandus” replaced by “Leopoldus”.

The setting of the opening verses of the Penitential Psalm 6, “Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me” (SWV 85), was published in the Cantiones Sacræ (Opus 4, 1625). This prayer for mercy reflected the theology of both the Evangelical and Catholic church that war was often the result of sin.

What is possibly a reflection of the unsettled neutral position of Johann Georg, is that Schütz dedicated this publication to Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg, an influential Catholic noble at the Imperial Court in Vienna.

Herr, unser Herrscher (SWV 449) was copied in Dresden sometime before 1638. This setting of Psalm 8 can also be understood in the context of the Peace of Prague (1635), which effectively ended Saxony’s role in the war, though with Swedish troops still in the area, conflicts and destruction continued until the armistice of 1645. In a sermon from 1537, Martin Luther wrote about Psalm 8 that “where this King rules, namely, in all lands and yet in heaven; and the means by which His kingdom is founded and regulated, namely, only through the Word and faith, without sword and armor”. This biblical reflection on a divine kingship over all earthly and celestial creation must have held particular meaning to Schütz and his contemporaries.

In church agendas, the Song of Simeon was part of the funeral liturgy, either as a biblical pericope or in Martin Luther’s paraphrase, “Mit Fried und Freud”. Schütz set the biblical text, “Herr, nun lässest Du Deinen Diener”, twice in 1635, in his Musicalische Exequien (Opus 7, 1636) and as a memorial for his friend and colleague, Christoph Cornett (1580-1635), who had been Hofkapellmeister in Kassel (SWV 352a). About 12 years later, he revised this in Symphoniæ Sacræ II (Opus 10, 1647; SWV 352), which was delayed due to “the miserable hostile times which continue unremitting in our beloved fatherland”. Also included in this collection was Was betrübst du dich (SWV 353), whose text (Psalm 42:11) reflects a hope derived from faith even in times of distress.

In 1664, Gustaf Düben (1624/28-1690), Hofkapellmeister of the Kungliga Hovkapellet, arranged “Herr, nun lässest Du Deinen Diener” from Symphoniæ Sacræ II by adding two new viola parts and a separate Swedish translation. About this time, Schütz’s setting of the chorale, Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott (SWV 447), was also copied in Sweden.

In addition to Cornett, Schütz had close collegial and personal relationships with Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630). He was trained at the Dresden court by Rogier Michael (c.1553-1623), later served at Weimar, and was named Thomaskantor at Leipzig in 1615. In addition to his extensive sacred and secular vocal works, the “Intrada à 5” (Venus Kräntzlein, 1609) and the Canzona à 5 (listed as a Corollarium or “gift” in the index to Cymbalum Sionium, 1615), are examples of his creativity. The memorial motet, Das ist je gewisslich wahr (SWV 277), indicates his close relationship with Schütz.

Schütz’s Geistliche Chormusik (Opus 11, 1648) was dedicated to the city fathers of Leipzig for use in the city’s churches and schools, “especially in more peaceful times”. It included a revised version of Schein’s memorial motet, SWV 388). Die mit Tränen säen (SWV 378; Psalm 126:5-6) recalls the tears and weeping of the previous decades and contrasts this with the hope for joy and new harvests. So fahr ich hin (SWV 379) sets the fifth verse of the funeral chorale by Nikolaus Herman (c.1480-1561), Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist, and instead of the anxieties of war focuses on the exquisite rest found in Christ. Verley uns Frieden genädiglich (SWV 372) is Martin Luther’s paraphrase of the antiphon, Da pacem, Domine, now in the context of the Peace of Westphalia, though when this was published Swedish troops were still in Saxony.

The earliest work is Siehe wie fein und lieblich ist (SWV 48), a setting of Psalm 133, composed for the Leipzig wedding of his younger brother, Georg Schütz, and Anna Grosse on 9 August 1619. The title-page included a Latin poem by Schütz in which he wrote “This [concerto] is owed only to you, brother, because one faith united our souls; may this firm faith, which connected us from a mother’s womb, persevere in time forever”. Following the Peace of Westphalia, Schütz must have remembered the joyful hope for the future “to dwell together in unity” expressed by this Psalm when he revised and expanded this work for his Symphoniæ Sacræ III (Opus 12, 1650; SWV 412).

The thrice repeated refrain of Schütz’s Teutoniam dudum belli, “O fortunate peace, may it bring a thousand joys to all”, expressed these same hopes for a fair and lasting peace, a hope that can still resonate through his music to our ears today.

Charles E. Brewer

English translations from Gregory S. Johnston, A Heinrich Schütz Reader: Letters and Documents in Translation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)