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Heinrich Schutz - Deutsches Magnificat (Meine Seele erhebt den Herren), SWV 494

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Schütz composed Meine Seele erhebt den Herren, SWV 494, in 1669 for two four-part choirs, instruments and basso continuo. It was published in the composer's last collection Des Königs und Propheten Davids 119. Psalm in 11 Stücken (Opus ultimum) (The 119th psalm by king and prophet David in 11 pieces (last work)). This work, consisting of an elaborate setting in eleven movements of Psalm 119 combined with an earlier setting of Psalm 100 and the Magnificat, was intended by Schütz to be his final work and is therefore also called Schwanengesang (Swan Song). The original title reads "Königs und Propheten Davids Hundert und Neunzehender Psalm in Eilf Stükken nebenst dem Anhange des 100. Psalms: Jauchzet dem Herrn! und Eines deutschen Magnificats: Meine Seele erhöbt den Herrn". (King and prophet David's 119th psalm in eleven pieces with the appendix of the 100th psalm "Rejoice in the Lord!" and a German Magnificat).

Schütz composed the work in Weißenfels, where he had bought a house at Nicolaigasse 13 to spend his retirement. The house was reopened in 2012 as a memorial site for the composer. Schütz dedicated the work to Johann Georg II of Saxony, but it was possibly not performed in his presence. Contemporaries knew the work already as Schwanengesang. Two of the eight vocal parts, soprano and tenor of choir II, are missing. The organ part was found in the mid 1970s and made an edition with a reconstruction of the two missing voices possible. In 1985, the 400th anniversary of the composer's birth, the work was performed again.

The setting is in one movement, alterning between duple meter and, more often, triple meter, frequently ending a phrase with hemiolas. It does not use the plainchant associated with the Magnificat. On phrases such as "lowliness of His handmaiden" or "cast down from their seats", the composer reduces the number of voices. According to musicologist Timothy Dickey, the final Amen "remains shockingly straightforward and simple. Schütz's hymn of thanksgiving for God's mercy ends in confidence, without undue artifice." Smith describes it as "austere and understated" and says that it "is permeated with the quiet ecstasy of that remarkable text".
Category
Classical
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