Denn siehe,
der Winter is vergangen,
der Regen
is weg and dahin,
die Blumen
sind herfürkommen im Land,
der Lenz
ist herbeikommen,
und die
Turteltaube läßt sich hören in
unserm
Lande,
See, the
winter is past,
the rain is
gone and away,
the flowers
flourish in the country,
Spring is
at hand,
and the
turtledoves are heard
in our country,
When I walked, one late evening, in a park near my
house, I heard these lines being chanted cheerfully in my headphones… It was a
couple of weeks ago and the Netherlands just had faced one of the longest
winters in modern history. Smell of grass and blossom filled my nostrils and
the sense that this Game-of-Thrones-like winter was gone and that we now had
six or seven years of summer ahead, fulfilled me with a sense of joy. “Denn siehe, der Winter is vergangen” was a
line from Heinrich Schütz’s two-choired motet “Stehe auf, meine Freundin” that I had acquainted from the Dutch Public
radio.
Schütz primarily worked in Dresden, during the time of
the Thirty Years War. What is now called Germany was at that time a horrid and apocalyptic
place. Large parts of the country were literally depopulated. Estimates assume
that about one third of the German population died due to the war conditions and
as a consequence Schütz often wrote his pieces for a small ensemble. Musicians were
forced to be soldiers and instruments were replaced by weapons… A double choir
must have been an incredible luxury at that time... This Schütz motet was
performed in 2007 live, by the Dutch Bach Society as part of a 17/18th century
vocal music program at the festival of old music in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Hope
you will enjoy it as much as I did.! :-)
Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672)
Georg Böhm (1661-1733)
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1702)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)