Heinrich Schutz (1585-1672)

Donald Macleod on the early years of the man described as the 'father of German music'.

Donald Macleod focuses on Schutz's years spent at the penniless court in Dresden.

Unlike many composers from the earlier end of music history, Heinrich Schütz left plenty of documentary traces - letters, petitions, memoranda, appraisals, prefaces, poetry and, in tune with the patronage culture of the times, his fair share of fawning dedications. It's a body of writings that opens fascinating windows onto the composer's life and times - and provides plentiful cues for music from one of greatest composers of his age.

Cantate Domino canticum novum, SWV 281 (Cantiones sacrae, Op 4)

Capella Augustana

Matteo Messori, director

O quam tu pulchra es, SWV 265 (Symphoniae Sacrae I)

Tobias M䀀thger, Georg Poplutz, tenor

Margret Baumgartl, Karina Müller, violin

Andreas Arend, theorbo

Matthias Müller, violone

Ludger R退my, organ

Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor

Wie sehr lieblich und sch怀ne sind doch die Wohnung dein, SWV 181 (Becker-Psalter, Op 5)

Magdalena Kircheis, soprano

Aneta Petrasovက, alto

Tobias M䀀thger, tenor

Martin Schicketanz, bass

Dresden Chamber Choir

Margret Baumgartl, violin

Stefan Maass, theorbo

Michaela Hasselt, organ

Hans-Christoph Rademann, director

Habe deine Lust an dem Herren, SWV 311 (Kleine geistliche Concerte II, Op 9)

Gerlinde S䀀mann, Isabel Schicketanz, soprano

Matthias Müller, viola da gamba

Ludger R退my, organ and director

Concert in Form einer teutschen Begr䀀bnis-Missa, SWV 279 (Musikalische Exequien)

Mary Seers, Rachel Platt, soprano

Ashley Stafford, countertenor

Frieder Lang, Nicolas Robertson, tenor

Stephen Charlesworth, bass

Lawrence Wallington, bass

The Monteverdi Choir

Alastair Ross, organ

The English Baroque Soloists

John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

Gedenke deinem Knechte an dein Wort, SWV 485 (Psalm 119)

Collegium Vocale Gent

Concerto Palatino

Philippe Herreweghe, conductor

Produced by Chris Barstow for BBC Wales

Dipping a toe into the fertile archival territory of Heinrich Schutz's writings.

Heinrich Schütz lived to be 87 - a pretty creditable age even now, but in the 17th century, extraordinary. As he approached his 60th birthday, his thoughts turned to retirement - and pension arrangements. Unfortunately for Schütz, his then employer, Johann Georg I of Saxony, had different ideas - ideas that involved his celebrated kapellmeister continuing to work in much the same way as before, for an unspecified period of time. In the event, it took a change of leadership to bring about the result Schütz so desired; the old Elector died, and in 1657, with Schütz now a grand old 72, the new Elector, Johann Georg II, assented to new arrangements, involving a pension, permission to leave Dresden, and lighter duties. Schütz, though, didn't rest on his laurels, and some of his greatest music dates from his last years - including his sparse and powerful setting of the Matthew Passion, and his musical last will and testament, a collection of works he himself titled ‘Swansong'.

Auf dem Gebirge, SWV 396 (Geistliche Chormusik)

David Erler, Alexander Schneider, countertenor

Cappella Sagitariana

Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor

Feget den alten Sauerteig aus, SWV 404; Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich?, SWV 415; Komm, heiliger Geist, SWV 417 (Symphoniae Sacrae III)

Dresdner Barockorchester

Hans-Christoph Rademann, director

Ich danke dem Herrn von ganzem Herzen, SWV 424 (12 Geistliche Gesange, Op 13)

Dresden Chamber Choir

Jauchzet dem Herren, alle Welt (Psalm 100), SWV 493

Collegium Vocale Gent

Concerto Palatino

Philippe Herreweghe, conductor

St Matthew Passion, SWV 479 (Und Siehe Da, Der Vorhang Im Tempel Zerreib In Zwei Stück)

Paul Elliott, tenor (Evangelist)

Rogers Covey-Crump, tenor (Pilate)

The Hilliard Ensemble

Mein Seele erhebt den Herren, SWV 494 (‘German Magnificat')

Produced by Chris Barstow for BBC Wales

Heinrich Schutz attempts to retire - and eventually bids farewell with his Schwanengesang

Christmas in 17th-century Dresden was not for the faint-hearted. Proceedings started at 3am with a signal call from the town watchman, followed by rounds of canon-fire, peals of bells, singing, shawm-playing, more bells, then a military parade - all leading up to the first church service of the day, at 7.30am, with its obligatory hour-long sermon. Schütz's music must have been a consolation, at least to those who were fortunate enough to do their worshipping at the court chapel. His yuletide masterpiece is The Christmas Story - today's programme includes a complete performance.

Hodie Christus natus est, SWV 456

Claire Lefilli tre, Julie Vall退e-Gendre, soprano

Renau Tripathi, haut-contre

Hans-J怀rg Mammel, tenor

Thomas van Essen, baritone

Etienne Debaisieux, bass

Chamber Choir of Namur

La Fenice

Jean Tub退ry, conductor

Warum toben die Heiden, SWV 23 (Psalmen Davids, Op 2)

Cantus C怀lln

Concerto Palatino

Konrad Jungh䀀nel, director

Ein Kind ist uns geboren, SWV 302 (Kleine geistliche Concerte I)

Dorothee Mields, soprano

David Erler, alto

Georg Poplutz, tenor

Andreas Wolf, bass

Stefan Maass, Theorbo

Matthias Müller, viola da gamba

Ludger R退my, organ and director

Verbum caro factum est, SWV 314 (Kleine geistliche Concerte II)

Gerlinde S䀀mann, Isabel Schicketanz, soprano

Historia, der freuden- und gnadenreichen Geburth Gottes und Marien Sohnes,

Jesu Christi (The Christmas Story), SWV 435

Else Torp, soprano

Adam Riis, Johan Linderoth, tenor

Jakob Bloch Jespersen, bass

Ars Nova Copenhagen

Concerto Copenhagen

Sirius Viols

Paul Hillier, direction

Produced by Chris Barstow for BBC Wales

Celebrating Yuletide, Heinrich Schutz-style

Landgrave Moritz of Hesse-Kassel did the world a great favour when he suggested to his 25-year-old second court organist Heinrich Schütz that he should head south to Venice and learn at the feet of the Italian master of sound in space, Giovanni Gabrieli - a period of study that left an indelible imprint on the German composer's musical style. Schütz's first Venetian sojourn, which began in 1609, was well-timed - Gabrieli was in poor health and had only three years to live. Two decades later, Schütz returned to a Venice where Monteverdi was now the musical kingpin, and found that things had changed a good deal since his previous visit. Once again, Schütz eagerly absorbed his new discoveries into his own musical language, with splendid results - among them his first set of Symphoniae Sacrae, published in Venice in 1629.

Jubilate Deo in chordis et organo, SWV 276 (Symphoniae Sacrae I, Op 6)

Tobias M䀀thger, Georg Poplutz, tenor

Felix Schwandtke, bass

Friederike Otto, Anna Schall, cornetti

Clemens Schlemmer, dulcian

Andreas Arend, theorbo

Matthias Müller, violone

Ludger R退my, organ

Hans-Christoph Rademann, conductor

Ride la primavera, SWV 7; Di marmo siete voi, SWV 17; Vasto mar, nel cui seno, SWV 19 (Italian Madrigals, Op 1)

Sette Voci

Armin Bereuter, violone

Julian Behr, chitarrone

Lorenzo Feder, harpsichord (organ)

Peter Kooij, director

Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren, SWV 41; Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, SWV 29; Ich danke dem Herrn von ganzem Herzen, SWV 34 (Psalmen Davids, Op 2)

Cantus C怀lln

Concerto Palatino

Konrad Jungh䀀nel, director

Fili mi, Absalon, SWV 269 (Symphoniae Sacrae I, Op 6)

Sebastian Krause, Julian Nagel, Masafumi Sakamoto, Fernando Günther, trombone

In te, Domine, speravi, SWV 259

David Erler, countertenor

Margret Baumgartl, violin

Es steh Gott auf, SWV 356, (Symphoniae sacrae II, Op 10)

Capella Augustana

Matteo Messori, director

Produced by Chris Barstow for BBC Wales

We are in Venice, where Heinrich Schutz studies with Gabrieli and hobnobs with Monteverdi.

‘War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin!' - 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?any Castle in Prague - when Protestant rebels turfed the proposed new Catholic governors of Bohemia out of a third-storey window - 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 - court musical establishments were slimmed down; musicians were laid off, or went unpaid. You can hear the effect in Schütz's 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 Schütz's hands actually serve to intensify the music's emotional impact.

‘O, Herr, hilf', 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䀀hler, tenor

Cappella Sagittariana Dresden

Norbert Schuster, conductor

Da pacem, Domine', SWV 465

Cantus C怀lln

Musica Fiata

Konrad Jungh䀀nel, director

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, SWV 328

Isabel Schicketanz, Gerlinde S䀀mann, soprano

Georg Poplutz, Tobias M䀀thger, tenor

Matthias Müller, viola da gamba

Ludger R退my, organ and director

O süsser, o freundlicher Herr Jesu Christ, SWV 285

Erh怀re mich, wenn ich dich rufe, SWV 289

Dorothee Mields, soprano

Ulrike Hofbauer, soprano

Stefan Maass, theorbo

Ist Gott für uns, SWV 329

David Erler, alto

Tobias Berndt, bass

Ich bin eine rufende Stimme, SWV 383; Verleih uns Frieden gen䀀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)

Concerto Palatino

Produced by Chris Barstow for BBC Wales

Heinrich Schutz is swept up in the convulsions of the Thirty Years' War