Motet notes - Schütz

One of the most exotically beautiful things that Schütz ever wrote is the two part sacred Symphony “Anima mea” on texts from the Song of Songs.  The work is written for two tenors and two piffaros, a kind of alto cornetto. Perhaps the closest modern equivalent is the modern oboe d’amore which we will use today.  There is no more purely Italianate work in all of Schütz than this.  The warm chromatic harmony is intensified by the low pitched obbligati mixing in with the range of the two tenors.