Heinrich Schütz

Lateinische Messe

Arranged and with text by Michael Stenov

For mixed choir SATBB

Other performance forms possible

From the foreword:
Since my youth I have loved the music of Heinrich Schütz and have always regretted that there is no complete mass setting by him. It was only in 2019 that I had the idea that it might be conceivable to set one or two of Schütz's works to music. I found what I was looking for in the motets of Geistliche Chormusik op. 11 from 1648. I chose three five-part motets for Kyrie, Sanctus/Benedictus and Agnus Dei and three six-part motets for Gloria and Credo. (Due to the length of the text, it was necessary to combine two motets for the Credo; all the other parts could be done with a single motet). So a total of 6 motets were used - their original titles are in the score. Surprisingly, I hardly had to change anything in the music - on the whole, it was as if Schütz had already taken this text into account. Many passages also fit surprisingly well in terms of tone painting.
Schütz only prescribes 5-7 vocal parts in sacred choral music; the standard is therefore an a cappella performance. However, it was quite common at this time to have suitable instruments play colla parte with the vocal parts. For this reason, the publisher also provides a complete set of instrumental parts including organ continuo. The continuo is also an essential part of many Schütz works and is therefore easily possible in this context.
Ring binding.