Day 30: Schutz, St Matthew Passion
Photo to follow shortly
Not sure how I came by this CD; I actually don’t like the
music very much, but I’m not sure why not. At one time I was quite partial to a
bit of early choral music, (and retro stuff like the Rachmaninov Vespers) but
these days, I regret to say, I find it rather lugubrious and morose. Perhaps
I’ve been listening to too much twentieth century stuff lately!
Heinrich Schutz was around between 1585 and 1672, and he was
more or less a contemporary of Monteverdi. The Passion is for unaccompanied
voices because in the Dresden Court Chapel where Schutz’s music was performed
it was forbidden to play musical instruments during holy week. In order to make
his music understood, Schutz developed a very expressive kind of sprechgesang,
and a Passion recitative style. Apparently Schutz’s Passions disappeared from
the repertoire until they were discovered and re-published in 1885.
Enough! The recording was of Wurttemberg Chamber Choir
conducted by Dieter Kurz.
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