Scheidt

The "Sacrae Cantiones" of Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654) are not as often performed today as the "Symphoniae Sacrae" of his contemporary Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) or the "Musae Sioniae " of Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), but it's not because Scheidt's vocal/instrumental work is uninteresting or inferior. This electrifying performance of nine of Scheidt's grandest polychoral settings of German hymns proves his stature, if not quite as sublime as Schütz at least as accomplished as Praetorius. Musicologists and musicians have paid far more attention to Scheidt's seminal role as the first internationally significant German composer for the organ than to his vocal works, and most of "us" today would first have encountered Scheidt in the popular transcriptions of his organ music for modern brass ensemble. If you're a brass player or fan, it may come as a surprise to discover how magnificent a composer of vocal/instrumental music Scheidt was…

Many German composers of the early 17th century went to Italy to study the newest musical trends. Samuel Scheidt, one of the main representatives of the North German organ school, did not do this. He went to Amsterdam instead, to study with the famous organist and composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. But although Sweelinck, as far as we know, never left the Netherlands, he was very well aware of everything that was happening all over Europe.

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XX - Samuel Scheidt - Ludi Musici, Hamburg 1621 (1997) {Fontalis–Auvidis France ES 8559}
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© 1997 Fontalis / Auvidis France | ES 8559
Classical / Baroque / Chamber Music

Samuel Scheidt (baptized November 3, 1587 – March 24, 1653) was a German composer, organist and teacher of the early Baroque era. Samuel Scheidt published 4 collections entitled Ludi Musici between 1621 & 1627, whereas only the first publication (from which the present program is taken) survives complete. Scheidt continues to be the most significant of the early North German instrumental composers.

Samuel Scheidt was one of the most interesting Lutheran composers of the early 17th century. Like his famous contemporary Heinrich Schütz, he combined the polyphonic tradition with the new styles from Italy. His Cantiones Sacrae for eight voices mark the summit of Renaissance musical style; even though Protestant chorales are integrated into the work, Scheidt does not hesitate to use expressive effects that originated in the Italian madrigal style.

Samuel Scheidt's Tabulatura Nova, published in three parts in the early seventeenth century, is one of those checkpoints that music history students have to learn. It was a collection of keyboard music with mostly instructional intent, making up a compendium of North German polyphonic techniques. The Tabulatura Nova was an early example of the exhaustiveness of musical thinking that became one of Bach's key characteristics, and it pointed to Bach as well in its density and overall conservatism. This double disc, covering the second of the Tabulatura Nova's three volumes, includes early fugues, fantasias, dances, an impressive toccata, and pieces intended for sacred use, including several based on chorales.