Matthaus-Passion SWV 479 [St Matthew] (rec 1973)

Heinrich Schütz was one of Germany's most important composers of the 17th century. Standing at the cross-roads of Renaissance and Baroque music, he profited from a four-year stay in Venice, where he studied with Giovanni Gabrieli, to learn "nuove musiche". This new form was to break with the long tradition of music designed solely to reflect the divine order of things and praise God, and to be more appealing to listeners, through more varied melodies and accompaniments.

Nevertheless, in a period of fecund maturity, Schütz returned to the more traditional style of composing. These three passions all date from the latter decades of Schütz's life - from the period between the late 1640s and the 1660s.

It is useful to put into perspective the role of sacred music in the 17th century. Principally designed to praise God, music was performed in churches by men only. The period up until the 17th century saw music that was essentially an extension of Gregorian chants - a cappella works with vocal soloists, choirs, or a combination of the two. Soloists declaimed more than they sang.

Schütz's passions follow this tradition. Scored for several soloists and choir, they all present the story of the passion, that of Jesus's suffering and death, according to the various gospels that relate this story. As far back as the story of the passion goes, this form of performance seems to have a long history as well. Gospel readings of the passions were probably made as early as the ninth century (if not even longer), when a deacon, priest and subdeacon would read the different parts of the gospel (the evangelist, Christ and the other people) in varied registers.

These passions can therefore be seen as a continuation of an ancient practice, with the difference that choirs are also used. Each of them features an evangelist (Peter Schreier) recounting the story of Christ's punishment and death, in alternation with other characters (Judas, Peter, Pilate, etc.), and a choir.

The St. Matthew Passion is the last of the three passions written by Schütz. At the time, in the 1660s, he was already around 80 years old - almost a Methuselah for that time. It was performed for the first time in 1666, but not published until after Schütz's death. Like the other passions, this focus of this work is the recitative by the evangelist. He tells the tale of the passion in a very simple manner - the music itself is very limited, almost stripped to its most minimal aspects. The single voices echoes through the church, as the words take on more importance than the melodies. (This style of recitative is not that much different than that of Bach, 150 years later.)

Interspersed between the recitatives of the evangelist and other players in this drama are short choral movements representing the crowd. These arrive like cool breezes that sweep away the ascetic nature of the recitatives. Sometimes in canon, sometimes in counterpoint, the choral movements are rich and varied. Yet the music remains restrained. The passion here is more meditative than those of Bach or other later composers. Schütz's use of only voices, singing only a limited number of notes, in simple, fixed intervals, with no accompaniment, maintains the focus on the text rather than the music.
(notes from MusicWeb)