Motet notes - Schütz

Schütz’ second volume of Sacred Symphonies appeared in 1647 after a rather lengthy silence. Schütz had been hampered in his musical pursuits by the Thirty Years War and had been spending much of his time as a diplomat. He was influential in brokering the end to that war. One year before the Peace of Westphalia he published this large collection of chamber works. Today’s piece is an arrangement of two Monteverdi madrigals. It probably dates back to Schütz’ last sojourn in Italy in the late 1620s. The dazzling Italianate vocal lines are tempered somewhat by the Germanic structure of the text.