Motet notes - Schütz

The great anti-war Luther double chorale "Verleih uns Frieden-Gib unsern Fürsten" was set twice by Schütz. Both settings come from the last years of the terrible Thirty-Years War that ravaged Germany in the first half of the seventeenth century. Today's setting for two sopranos, two violins and continuo is the earlier of the two settings and was first published in the second volume of Symphoniae Sacrae (1647). The poignant and pointed text-setting achieves its climax in the seraphic plea for Peace and Good Government in the second part of the sacred symphony.