Psalmen Davids

This article is about a collection of psalm settings published in 1619. For Psalmen Davids published in 1628, 1640 and 1661, see Becker Psalter § Schütz, and List of compositions by Heinrich Schütz § Becker Psalter.

Psalmen Davids
by Heinrich Schütz
Title page of the first edition, 1619
CatalogueSWV 22 to 47
Opus2
GenreSacred vocal music
TextPsalms
LanguageGerman
DedicationJohann Georg I
Published1 June 1619 (1619-06-01) in Dresden

Psalmen Davids (Psalms of David) is a collection of sacred choral music, settings mostly of psalms in German by Heinrich Schütz, who had studied the Venetian polychoral style with Giovanni Gabrieli. Book 1 was printed in Dresden in 1619 as his Opus 2. It comprises 26 individual settings, which were assigned numbers 22 to 47 in the Schütz-Werke-Verzeichnis (SWV). Most of them use the text of a complete psalm in the translation by Martin Luther.[1]

The full title of the publication, "Psalmen Davids / sampt / Etlichen Moteten und Concerten / mit acht und mehr Stimmen / Nebenst andern zweyen Capellen daß dero etliche / auff drey und vier Chor nach beliebung gebraucht / werden können", indicates that some motets and concertos are added to the psalm settings, and the scoring is for eight and more voices and two groups of instrumentalists, so that in some pieces three and even four choirs can participate in polychoral settings.[2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference House was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Woolf was invoked but never defined (see the help page).