Symphoniae Sacrae I, No. 14: Attendite, popule meus (SWV 270)

Schütz Symphoniae Sacrae I, No. 14: Attendite, popule meus (SWV 270)

Heinrich Schütz, who lived from 1585-1672 was undoubtedly the most important German composer in the era before Bach and Handel, and his work exercised a considerable influence on the development of music.  Making use of some of the innovations which had occurred in Italy, where he studied under Giovanni Gabrieli, he introduced a number of new elements into German music - a more monodic style of writing, the use of different and novel combinations of choirs and instrumental groups, and the setting of German words as well as Latin for religious works.  All of this resulted in works of a much more dramatic character than had hitherto been heard in Germany.

Symphoniae sacrae (Sacred Symphonies) is a collection of three sacred vocal-instrumental concertos on Latin texts.  The first collection was published in 1629 during his second trip to Venice.  The second and third collections were published in Dresden in 1647 and 1650.  The first two sets consist of settings for one to three voices with one or two instruments and basso continuo.  The third collection expands to up to eight parts (vocal and/or instrumental) with basso continuo.