Jack Breslin Music History 101: Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque Research Paper Final Draft

An Italian in Dresden:
The Influence of Gabrieli on the Works of Heinrich Schutz
Heinrich Schutz was one of the formidable composers of the early Baroque period. His settings of sacred texts proved some of the most beautiful to come out of Germany during the 17th century. Not unlike the rest of the European world at this time, he was heavily influenced by the Italian culture that was still thriving from the end of the Renaissance. Schutz was particularly informed in the Italian Renaissance style because of his studies with one of the masters, Giovanni Gabrieli. A preeminent composer until the end of his life in 1615, Gabrieli pioneered many techniques that not only became commonplace in Europe at the time, but became regular practice through the modern day. His use of poly-choral settings, specified instruments, and dynamics were revolutionary in his day and influenced composers all over Europe. Schutz's Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich?, the 18th entry in his Sacrae Symphoniae III, is one of his greatest works, and one that most clearly shows the influence of his studies with Gabrieli. It also shows many other techniques popular of the era, including mutatio modi and word painting popular with other madrigalists. All of these musical ideas turn Schutz's setting of two verses from the Bible into one of his greatest and most intricate compositions. One year after enrolling in the law program at the University of Marburg, Schutz found himself sent to Italy by a benefactor to study with the great Giovanni Gabrieli in 1609.i The aged composer, already fifty-five years of age, was the organist at St. Mark's in Venice, the most coveted musical post of the time. Landgrave Moritz of Hessen-Kassel, a great patron of the arts, interrupted Schutz's studies to send him to Italy. Heinrich had intended to stay on at law school, but 'his plan was soon altered (undoubtedly by the will of God), in that my lord the landgrave Moritz came to Marburg... and made me the following proposal: [that] since at the time a truly celebrated but quite old musician and

composer was still living in Italy, I should not miss the chance to hear him and learn from him.ii In his own words, it is easy to see that Schutz was somewhat excited to hear from one of the great masters in Italy. As was Gabrieli's custom, he started teaching Schutz in the art of composing for voices a cappella in the madrigal form. Most of Gabrieli's students' first work was a set of Italian madrigals, which Schutz completed in 1611. All of the madrigals were set for five voices, except the last which was a double SATB choir piece.iii This shows an early influence in the young composer's choral work, one which would effect his writing for the rest of his life. The young composer's graduation requirement is still considered one of the greatest Opus #1's in history.iv Gabrieli passed away mere months after Schutz had decided to stay in Venice for another year. This sent the composer back to Germany, settling in Dresden where he would spend most of the rest of his life. In 1618, only a few years after Schutz returned from his studies with Gabrieli, the Thirty Years' War had broken out between the Protestants and the Catholics. The battles were primarily fought in Germany during the beginning years. The year 1635 brought about the Treaty of Prague, which many thought would end the civil war being fought, but fighting continued throughout Europe as Spain and France entered the conflict. Schutz commented on the state of music-making during the war years: Praiseworthy music has not only falling into great decline through the constant perils of war... but in many places has ceased altogether, suffering the general ruin and disorder which invariably results from unholy strife.v Schutz himself wrote precious little during this period, save a few small concertos,vi for the money usually allocated to him was being spent on the war effort. He would not return to his large-scale works until after the end of the war in 1648. Schutz returned to force after the end of the war, releasing some of his largest, most intricate works. His third Symphoniae Sacrae was completed in 1650, two years after his return to grand choral works. The 18th concertato from this collection, Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich? is very closely tied to the Italian style of choral writing from the end of the Renaissance. Much like the great madrigalists

of his time, Schutz used clever word painting to strengthen the meaning of his brief text. The full text of the piece is only two verses from the Bible, the book of Acts, chapter 26. The text is what Jesus says to Saul, a persecutor of Christians as he is on his way to Damascus. Saul claims to see a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me,vii where upon he hears the voice of Christ asking him the question used for the text. This instance is referred to as the conversion of Paul, marking the occasion when Saul became Paul, a follower and preacher of Christ. Using a direct quote from Jesus himself makes this an emotionally-charged setting, and Schutz uses the largest ensemble called for in his Symphoniae to emphasize the grandiosity of the occurrence. Schutz wrote Saul for a favoriti, or six-voice ensemble,viii two four-voice choirs, two violins, and a basso continuo. It is interesting to note that Schutz initially wrote of the two choirs that they could be added 'nach Belieben' (if one pleases)ix. The composer didn't think these parts were crucial, seeing as they merely double favoriti parts. This addendum was taken out by editors in later editions based on how much these added voices increased the effect of the piece. Writing in this polychoral style was just one of the ways Saul was indicative of the studies Schutz undertook with Gabrieli. Giovanni, along with his uncle Andrea Gabrieli, were two of the Venetian pioneers in poly-choral works. Gabrieli wrote works for up to four choirs, such as his concerto Omnes gentes.x He was also famous for his clever uses of rhythm, as well as his ability to play opposing choirs off of each other. These techniques become exceedingly clear in Saul, where the entrance of the two choirs finds both of them alternating internally with calls of Saul's name. The two complimenti choirs never move on to the second verse of the text, only being used to emphasize the initial question. They are essentially used for added dynamics, another technique pioneered by Gabrieli. Before the 16th century, dynamics had been a performer's choice more often than not. Schutz uses dynamics to great success in Saul, painting the piece in very interesting ways. While the opening of the piece is not marked for dynamics, the fact that only two voices (aside from the continuo) sound at a time implies a softer dynamic. This contrasts sharply with the entrance of

the double choir in measure 17, marked with a forte. The almost trumpet-like calls of Saul's name are followed by the asking of the question was verfolgst du mich? by the choirs, then twice by the favoriti. The first time is marked mezzopiano, the second pianissimo. This initial burst, followed by the tapering in the favoriti, was intended to depict the booming voice of Christ reverberating off the cliffs and rocks along the road to Damascus.xi The call and response between the two choirs on Saul's name was to signify the echoing of Christ's voice, where as the gradual dropping out of the two additional choirs and the decrescendo of the favoriti (mm. 17-23) were meant to signify the fading of the echoes in the desert. Schutz also uses opposing dynamics later in the piece (mm. 66, 75) where the tenor in the favoriti sings Saul's name on held notes while the rest of the favoriti, and at times the two choirs, sing the pervasive question in moving dotted rhythms. This reemphasizes the call of Christ while the haunting question continues to bounce of the rocks of the desert. The brevity of the text allowed Schutz to concentrate on the intense experience of being called on by Christ. The dynamics he employs also convey the magnificence of the situation. The opening of the piece is comprised of four iterations of the initial question posed to Saul, rising from the basses through the inner voices, sopranos, and finally returning to the original key (D dorian) with the two violins. The violins were specifically called for, following Gabrieli's practice of calling for specific instrumentation. Gabrieli was one of the first Italian composers to write in specific instruments to his scores. While the basso continuo is not specified, the violins are put by name to the top two instrumental lines. The violin parts are written primarily for the same purpose as the double choir, to emphasize dynamics and to add a higher register over the voices. During the opening of the piece, the violins perform the fourth iteration of the opening duet theme in the same key as the basses, who sing the line originally. During the first poly-choral entrance in measure 17, the violins never play a note outside of the notes sung by the choirs, but Schutz arranges notes form different sung parts to give the violins more interesting, defined melodies. The quarter note on the downbeat of measure 20

takes its note from the top line of the favoriti, followed by the G from the 1st bass part. The dotted A half note is taken from the tenor line of the second complimenti choir, and the last note of the bar is taken from the basses of the favoriti and the tenor and soprano of the first complimenti choir. While staying inside the given tonality of the piece, the violins are present to add another melodic line that would have been much more difficult for a singer to attain. It gives Schutz's setting a higher edge to offset the copious basses and instruments playing the basso continuo. The words of Jesus are thus seen as even more perfect. Rhythm between the choirs and the favoriti, as well as in the solo and duet lines, is another crucial element to the effectiveness of Schutz's work. The opening sequences of the piece all start on the second beat in the 3/2 time signature, giving the piece an unsure foundation from the beginning. Even the double choir entrance does not start until the second beat. The only firm downbeats heard within the first 24 measures are on the word mich, translated as me, referring to Jesus. This is one of the techniques Schutz uses to imply the perfection of Christ (more to be discussed). The opening section is quite rhythmically ambiguous throughout, with the four sequenced entrances of the basses, middle voices, sopranos, and violins, all sounding as if they were in simple duple as opposed to simple triple. It sounds as if the third half note is the downbeat of the second measure of 4/2, where as the dotted half note on -folgst is the downbeat of the second measure, being lead to by the quarter notes on was ver-. The piece switches into common time in measure 24, creating a finer sense of rhythm for the solo passages. Perhaps the primary purpose of opening the piece slowly and quietly was to emphasize the initial confusion that surely must have confounded Saul on his way to Damascus. The solo and duet sections, which elaborate the second verse of the text, are also wrought with word painting in the Italian vein. The initial statements of this text, which warns Saul that it will be hard to kick against the thorns,xii is sung solo first by the tenor and then by the alto, showing the solidarity and perfection of the word of Christ. The second iteration is a duet between the first bass and the first soprano. This passage features a long melisma, implying the futility of fighting the way of

God.xiii The tenor voice takes on an almost completely independent nature during measure 65. The tenor calls Saul's name repeatedly, while the favoriti and double choir ask the rest of the question for the remainder of the piece. Between measures 65 and 72, the tenor rises step wise each time he repeats the half note-half note-whole note calling of Saul's name. This brings the rest of the ensemble with him, causing the piece's intensity to grow. The tenor is independently marked as forte, while the rest of the ensemble follows the dynamic markings of the initial poly-choral entrance. The decrescendo from forte to mezzopiano and pianissimo itself becomes a recurring theme in the piece. The large entrance is condensed in size and repeated four times during the last portion of the piece. The double choir only sings during the forte sections, again simply added to intensify dynamic differences. Schutz also employs a very theoretical bit of word painting on asking the question was verfolgst du mich? In measures 20-22, the question is asked three times, once by the two choirs and the favoriti, and the second two times by just the favoriti. In all three instances, the question starts on a G-minor chord, moving to a D-major passing chord, and settling on a G-major chord on the word mich. Mich, which translates as me, refers to Jesus. While it might seem odd to start a phrase on a minor chord, and resolve it on the major of the same root, there is a very specific reason for this. Andrea Werckmeister was music theorist from the late 17th century who coined the term well temperament, and was therefore very influential to J. S. Bach. One of his surviving works on music theory contained a very interesting idea on the internal of a third: The third has two natures: one sounds magnificent, perfect, majestic, the other humble, imperfect, slavelike.... These are best compared to the godly as opposed to the human nature.xiv The major third, in this case, has a perfect, godly function, where as the minor third refers more to lowly human life. Schutz starts the question Why do you persecute me? on a G-minor chord, symbolizing the humble, human Saul, ending on a G-major chord to show the perfection of Jesus. Called a mutatio modi, Schutz used this allegorical device to further the glorification of Jesus. There is one dissonance that it seems unlikely that Schutz would have dealt with in such a

setting. The second iteration of the second line of Schutz's text is comprised of two different parts. The first is the duet between the top soprano and the top bass, containing the previously discussed melisma. The second part of this section is a fugue that passes the first half of the question all around the entire favoriti before the second bass is given a similar melismatic turn on the end of the phrase. The fugue moves through the circle of fifths, G-C-F-Bb-Eb-Ab. The fact that the fugue resolves on Ab is especially interesting in a 17th century context. Ab was considered a wolf note,xv or one that was notoriously out of tune on mean-tuned instruments. This would have been a struggle to perform on any harpsichord of the day, causing this section to sound out of tune. The translation for the fugal text reads it is hard for thee, so it is not a stretch to believe that this is but another clever use of word painting by Schutz. He used the limitations of the tuning system of his day to intensify the emotions of his text setting. The entirety of Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich? was intended to glorify the word of God and proclaim his perfection. Schutz did this through many different ways, including many methods he learned from his studies with Giovanni Gabrieli. Typical of Italian madrigalists at the time, Schutz used clever word painting to intensify the meanings of his settings. He learned his style of poly-choral writing from Gabrieli, one of the style's pioneers. Schutz's use of rhythmic call and response, as well as his defined dynamics (innovative at this time), shows the intensity of Saul's personal experience when being spoken to by Jesus. While the shortest of Schutz's settings in the Symphoniae Sacrae III, there is a heavy emotional content to this piece. The poly-choral setting and clever uses of word painting show just how heavily influenced Heinrich Schutz was in terms of his choral music by his studies with Italian master Giovanni Gabrieli.

i Smallman, 13. ii Smallman, 13 iii Smallman, 18. iv Smallman, 14. v Smallman, 87. vi Smallman, 87. vii Bible, Acts 26:13. viiiNAWM, 535. ix Linfield, 231. x Buelow, 22. xi NAWM, 535. xii Bible, Acts 26:14. xiiiNAWM, 536. xiv Linfield, 230. xv Linfield, 242.

Works Cited:
Bible.com: King James Version Buelow, George J. A History of Baroque Music. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004. Ed. Burkholder, J. Peter and Claude V. Palisca. Norton Anthology of Western Music-Volume 1: Ancient to Baroque. New York: Norton and Company, 2010. Linfield, Eva. Rhetoric, Rhythm, and Harmony as Keys to Schutz's Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich? Critica Musica: Essays in Honor of Paul Brainard. Ed. Knowles, John. United Kingdom: Gordon and Breach Publishers, 1996. 225-248. Smallman, Basil. Schutz. London: Oxford University Press, 2000. Schutz, Heinrich. Symphoniae Sacrae III (1650). New York: Barenreiter, 2002.