Unger M.P. Historical Dictionary of Choral Music
Подождите немного. Документ загружается.
SCHNITTKE, ALFRED (24 NOVEMBER 1934–3 AUGUST 1998).
Russian composer of German-Jewish parentage. He received his first
music lessons in Vienna, where his family lived from 1946 until
1948. Upon their return to Russia, he studied at Moscow’s October
Revolution Music College (1949–53) and at the Moscow Conserva-
tory (1953–61). He then taught at the latter for a decade (1962–72).
Initially influenced by Dmitri Shostakovich and Gustav Mahler,
he later adopted a polystylistic approach with which he could portray
a sense of alienation and isolation by juxtaposing music of diverse
origins and styles. He gained fluency in a wide range of styles by
writing music for film—an involvement that continued throughout
much of his life. His relationship with Soviet authorities was uneasy.
Nevertheless, his reputation grew, and after 1980 he was able to
travel increasingly. In 1990 he settled in Hamburg. Despite a series
of strokes he continued to compose until his death.
Schnittke’s choral works are largely religious in theme (he was
baptized a Roman Catholic in 1982), and rely more on inherited
traditions than on polystylism. Often large in scale, they include the
student oratorio Nagasaki, for Mez., chorus, and orch. (1958); Re-
quiem, for solo vv., chorus, and inst. ens. (1975); Symphony no. 2
(St. Florian), for solo vv., chbr. chorus, and orch. (1979); Symphony
no. 4, for solo vv., chorus, and chbr. orch. (1983); the Faust cantata
Seid nüchtern und wachet . . . , for solo vv., chorus, and orch. (1983);
Concerto, for mixed chorus (1985); Stikhi pokayannïye [Penitential
Psalms] (1987); and Agnus Dei, for 2 S, female chorus, and orch.
(1991); among others. He also contributed an unfinished “Lux ae-
terna” for the collaborative Requiem der Versöhnung.
SCHOENBERG, ARNOLD (13 SEPTEMBER 1874–13 JULY
1951). Austro-Hungarian composer, who changed the course of music
history with his work in atonality and serialism. He grew up in Vienna,
the oldest of three children in a Jewish family. Largely self-taught in
composition, he led composition classes in Vienna and intermittently
in Berlin (1901–3, 1911–15, 1926–33). Despite support from Rich-
ard Strauss and Gustav Mahler, his own compositions met with
strong opposition because of their pervading dissonance. In 1933,
with the rise of anti-Semitism, Schoenberg formally reembraced his
Jewish faith, and emigrated to the United States. He eventually settled
in Los Angeles, at the University of California, where he taught until
1944, when ill health forced him into retirement.
392 • SCHNITTKE, ALFRED
Schoenberg’s stylistic changes were the result of continual ex-
ploration and self-evaluation. His choral works reflect this devel-
opmental process. In his early works, he employed a chromatic,
post-Wagnerian harmonic language. Examples include the extrava-
gantly scored Gurre-Lieder, for solo vv., choruses, and orch. (1901,
orchestration finished 1911), a work that he insisted should be sung
in English when performed in North America and England, and
Friede auf Erden, op. 13, for SSAATTBB and insts. ad lib. (1907,
acc. 1911). Then, feeling inexorably driven by a sense of personal
artistic integrity and historical inevitability, he moved from this
heightened chromaticism to Expressionist atonality—evident in such
works as the oratorio Die Jakobsleiter, for solo vv., choruses, and
orch. (1917–22, left unfinished after war service). There Schoenberg
identifies with the “chosen one,” who must speak prophetically de-
spite rejection.
Realizing the need for greater structure in the absence of tonality,
he then developed his historically pivotal 12-tone technique. The
earliest choral works to employ serialism are Vier Stücke, op. 27;
and Drei Satiren, op. 28, for (mostly unaccompanied) mixed choir
(1925). He followed these pieces with Three Folk Songs—tonal set-
tings for unaccompanied mixed chorus (1929). Also in serial style is
Moses und Aron, op. 3, an opera (on his own libretto) originally con-
ceived as an oratorio, of which he completed only two acts (1932).
In later years, many of Schoenberg’s works were religiously mo-
tivated. The textless Genesis Prelude, op. 44, for SATB and orch.
(1945), was commissioned by Hollywood composer and arranger
Nathaniel Shilkret, as part of a collaborative project proposing to set
the entire Bible. It employs 12-tone technique and is laid out in the
form of a large prelude and double fugue. Kol nidre, op. 39, is an
English setting of the Jewish liturgy (with alterations and introduc-
tion by the composer), for speaker, chorus, and orch. (1938), com-
posed in a tonal style and intended for practical use, but rejected for
that purpose because of its textual alterations. A Survivor from War-
saw, op. 46, for narr., male chorus, and orch. (1947), was a response
to events of the Holocaust. Although employing serial technique, it
is reasonably accessible. Among his last works are the three unre-
lated choruses of op. 50: Dreimal tausend Jahre, for SATB (1949);
De profundis, a Hebrew setting of Psalm 130 that mixes singing
and speech, for SSATBB (1950); and Moderner Psalm, for speaker,
chorus, and orch. (1950, inc.). The Three Folksongs, op. 49 (1948),
SCHOENBERG, ARNOLD • 393
are new settings of melodies that he had previously arranged in 1929.
Other choral works include Der deutsche Michel, for male vv. (1914
or 1915); Sechs Stücke, op. 35, for male vv. (1929–30); some early
partsongs; and unfinished fragments.
SCHOLA CANTORUM [LAT. “SCHOOL OF SINGERS”]. Dur-
ing the Medieval period, the term signified the choir that sang during
solemn papal ceremonies. The term has since been adopted by choir
schools with similar educational objectives, such as the Parisian
Schola Cantorum (Vincent d’Indy, 1894) and the Schola Cantorum
Basiliensis (August Wenzinger, 1933), and by choirs specializing in
the performance of early music.
SCHUBERT, FRANZ (31 JANUARY 1797–19 NOVEMBER 1828).
Austrian composer. Though he was highly talented, he did not
achieve widespread recognition during his lifetime, due apparently
to a shy disposition, a lack of steady employment and/or influential
supporters, and a short life span. An astonishingly prolific composer,
he is best remembered for his songs, symphonies, piano pieces, and
chamber works.
Born in Vienna, he studied from 1808 to 1813 under Antonio Sa-
lieri at the Imperial College. Then, after a 10-month training course,
he began teaching in his father’s school. During these early years, he
composed at a historically unprecedented rate. By the fall of 1816 he
had written hundreds of highly expressive German songs with ac-
companiment. In that year he left teaching for the independent life of
a freelance musician in the inner city, throwing in his lot with Franz
von Schober, a fascinating but hedonistic dabbler in the arts. With
Schober’s help he began to make important acquaintances, among
them, the baritone Johann Michael Vogl, who became an influential
interpreter of his songs. After returning home briefly in 1817, Schubert
worked for some five months for Count Johann Karl Esterházy, at the
family’s summer residence in Zseliz (now Želiezovce in Slovakia).
When he returned to Vienna toward the end of 1818, he settled with
his friend, the poet Johann Mayrhofer, rather than with his family.
Gradually his stature in Vienna increased, aided by the support of
a close circle of friends. During the early 1820s, he tried unsuccess-
fully to establish himself in opera. Recurring ill health (evidently the
result of his hedonistic lifestyle) plagued him from early 1823 until
his untimely death nearly six years later.
394 • SCHOLA CANTORUM
Schubert’s choral music includes, above all, secular partsongs and
choruses, which occupied him throughout his life. About two-thirds
of the 150 extant pieces are for male voices; approximately half of
the total are accompanied. Many became favorites with 19th-century
singing societies. Well-known examples include La pastorella al
prato, for TTBB and pf.; Widerspruch, for TTBB and pf.; Nacht-
helle, for T, TTBB, and pf.; Ständchen, for A, SSAA or TTBB, and
pf.; the Handelian Mirjams Siegesgesang, for S, SATB, and pf.; and
Gesang der Geister über den Wassern, transmitted in both four- and
eight-part versions for male chorus.
Among some 40 sacred compositions are 6 masses. In these he
omitted some canonical phrases—either for personal reasons or to
conform to Viennese practice. Four are early works in the Austrian
missa brevis tradition; undoubtedly, the most famous of these is the
Mass in G, for S, T, B, SATB, str., and org. (1815). During his early
years, he also wrote an oratorio-like Stabat mater with German text,
for S, T, B, SATB, and orch. (1815); a Magnificat, for S, A, T, B,
SATB, orch., and org. (1815); and other liturgical pieces.
Later significant choral works include the unfinished dramatic
oratorio Lazarus, for 3 S, 2 T, B, SATB, and orch. (1820); and two
symphonic masses: the Mass in A-flat, for S, A, T, B, SATB, orch.,
and org. (completed 1822); and the Mass in E-flat, for S, A, T, B,
SATB, and orch. (1828). Throughout these large-scale works (which
appear to have arisen from an inner compulsion rather than external
factors), his gift for melodic and harmonic invention is evident. He
also continued to compose Latin sacred works, bringing their total to
about 30. One of the last of these is Intende voci, an offertory for T,
SATB, and chbr. orch. (1828).
SCHULLER, GUNTHER (22 NOVEMBER 1925– ). American
composer, horn player, conductor, writer, educator, publisher, and
record producer. Some of his works synthesize jazz and traditional
styles, resulting in what he called “third stream” music. Among his
relatively few choral pieces are Sacred Cantata (Psalm 98), for
SATB and chbr. orch. (1966), which includes spoken, whispered, and
shouted lines; the oratorio The Power within Us, for nar., Bar., cho-
rus, and orch. (1971), which relates Cabeza de Vaca’s experiences
in the New World—including the ruthless subjugation of the natives
by the Spanish; Poems of Time and Eternity, for chorus and 9 insts.
SCHULLER, GUNTHER • 395
(1972); and Thou Art the Son of God, for SATBar.B, fl., eng. hn., cl.,
hn., tpt., perc., vn., vc., and db. (1987); among a half-dozen others.
SCHUMAN, WILLIAM (4 AUGUST 1910–15 FEBRUARY 1992).
American composer. After studying with Roy Harris at the Juil-
liard School, he taught at Sara Lawrence College (1935–45), where
he directed the chorus during most of his tenure. He then served as
president of Juilliard (1945–62). In both institutions he initiated cur-
ricular changes that focused on processes of creative discovery. From
1962 to 1969 he served as founding president of Lincoln Center, after
which he devoted himself to composition.
While best remembered for his symphonic works, he wrote some
two dozen choral works. In 1943 A Free Song, a two-movement
cantata for SATB and orch. (1942), on a text by Walt Whitman,
won the first Pulitzer Prize for music. Subsequent Whitman settings
include several works for unaccompanied mixed chorus: Carols of
Death (1958), Declaration Chorale (1971), and Perceptions (1982).
Two works on texts by Genevieve Taggard are for mixed chorus
and orchestra: Prologue (1937) and This Is Our Time (1940). Light-
hearted compositions (all unaccompanied) include Five Rounds on
Famous Words (1956–69), Mail Order Madrigals (1971), and Esses:
Short Suite for Singers on Words Beginning with S (1982). Works for
female chorus (some of which are also available in SATB arrange-
ments) include Prelude, with soprano solo (1939); To Thy Love, a
choral fantasy on old English rounds (1973); Requiescat, with pf.
(1942); Holiday Song, with pf. (1942); The Lord Has a Child, with
pf. (1956, rev., SATB, brass qnt., 1990); and Concerto on Old Eng-
lish Rounds, for vla., women’s chorus, and orch. (1974). Works for
male chorus include Truth Shall Deliver (1946) and Deo ac veritati
(1963). The cantata Casey at the Bat, for S, Bar., chorus, and orch.
(1976) was revised from the opera The Mighty Casey. Other works
include the cantata On Freedom’s Ground, for Bar., chorus, and
orch./band (1985); and a handful of early unaccompanied pieces,
among them, a Te Deum (1944).
SCHUMANN, ROBERT (8 JUNE 1810–29 JULY 1856). German
composer and music critic, renowned especially for his piano mu-
sic, songs, and some of his symphonic and chamber pieces. The
son of a bookseller and publisher, he developed a keen interest in
literature, which played an important role in his development as
396 • SCHUMAN, WILLIAM
a musician and influential exponent of Romanticism in music. In
1828, his father having died two years earlier, he began a course
in law at the University of Leipzig. He had little interest in his
university studies, however, and by 1830 had turned decisively to
music. In 1840, he married Clara Wieck, the daughter of his piano
teacher, and a brilliant pianist, after going to court to overrule her
father’s objections.
From late 1844 to 1850, the couple lived in Dresden. During
this time he directed two choral societies: the Dresden Liedertafel
(1847–48), giving rise to some works for male chorus, and the Ver-
ein für Chorgesang, a mixed-voice singing society that he founded,
which grew to some 65 members (1847–50). From 1850 to 1854, the
couple lived in Düsseldorf, where Robert served as municipal music
director, conducting the orchestra and chorus (Gesangverein) of the
Allgemeiner Musikverein, while continuing to compose. In 1853 the
couple welcomed Johannes Brahms into their home, encouraging
him and promoting his music in Robert’s journal Neue Zeitschrift
für Musik. The following year Robert’s mental condition (which had
been more or less precarious all his life) worsened alarmingly. At his
own request, he was placed in a lunatic asylum, where he died some
two-and-a-half years later.
In temperament and musical orientation, Robert was the quint-
essential Romantic. Nevertheless, both he and Clara were keenly
interested in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and they served
as influential participants in the so-called Bach revival. Furthermore,
Robert’s literary activities prompted a keen interest in vocal music.
Among his works for chorus are about 20 with orchestra. They
include the oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri, op. 50 (1843);
Scenen aus Goethes Faust (1853)—a stylistically varied work in
seven scenes with overture; Adventlied, op. 71 (1848); Requiem für
Mignon, op. 98b (1849); Nachtlied, op. 108 (1849); Der Rose Pilger-
fahrt, op. 112 (1851); 4 orchestral-choral ballades: Der Königssohn,
op. 116 (1851), Des Sängers Fluch, op. 139 (1852), Vom Pagen und
der Königstochter, op. 140 (1852), and Das Glück von Edenhall,
op. 143 (1853); Neujahrslied, op. 144 (1850); Missa sacra, op. 147
(1853); and a Requiem, op. 148 (1852). He also wrote sets of part-
songs for convivial music-making, among them, 7 sets for mixed
choir, 2 sets for female voices, and 6 for male chorus, in addition to
a few individual pieces.
SCHUMANN, ROBERT • 397
SCHUSTER, JOSEPH (11 AUGUST 1748–24 JULY 1812). German
composer and conductor. From 1765 to 1768, and again from 1774 to
1777, he lived in Italy, where he established a reputation as an opera
composer. In 1772 he received an appointment as church composer
in Dresden, and from 1781 (after returning from Italy the second
time) he worked in the Dresden court theater and chapel. In 1787 he
was appointed court Kapellmeister (together with Franz Seydelmann,
a colleague since his first trip to Italy). His surviving sacred choral
works include 5 Italian oratorios, 25 masses, 14 offertories, 5 Mag-
nificats, 15 Marian antiphons, 2 litanies, a Stabat mater setting, and
2 hymns. Published during his own lifetime was the cantata Lob der
Musik, for solo voice, choir, and orch. (1784).
SCHÜTZ, HEINRICH (BAPTIZED 9 OCTOBER 1585; DIED 6
NOVEMBER 1672). German composer. Together with Michael
Praetorius, Johann Hermann Schein, and Samuel Scheidt, he was
responsible for introducing Italian styles into Protestant Germany.
Over 500 of his compositions survive, all of which involve voices,
most of them employing sacred texts. Throughout a long career, he
demonstrated a mastery of the changing styles of his time. He was
especially adept at capturing the inflections of the German language
in his settings. Interestingly, he rarely used chorales.
While still in his youth, his talent was noticed by the Landgrave
Moritz of Hessen-Kassel, who took over his education in 1599 and
employed him as a choirboy. Later he sent him to Venice to study
with Giovanni Gabrieli (1609–13). In 1611, while still in Italy,
Schütz issued his first publication, a collection of Italian madrigals.
Upon returning to Germany, he reentered Moritz’s service, but was
soon recruited by Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony—an initial
visit to Dresden being followed in 1615 by a two-year appointment.
Continued wrangling between the Landgrave and the Elector ended
in the Elector’s favor, and at the beginning of 1617, Schütz’s posi-
tion in Dresden was made permanent. Because Michael Praetorius,
the nominal director, had primary duties in Wolfenbüttel, Schütz
served as de facto Kapellmeister until 1621, gaining the actual title
at Praetorius’s death.
In 1619 Schütz published his second collection, the polychoral
Psalmen Davids (26 works). In 1623 he published the first of his
three extant oratorios, Die Auferstehung unsres Herren Jesu Christi,
398 • SCHUSTER, JOSEPH
for 3 S, 2 A, 3 T, 2 B, 4 viols, and bc. A volume of 41 polyphonic
Latin motets for four voices and (largely optional) continuo fol-
lowed in 1625 under the title Cantiones sacrae. In September of that
same year, his wife died. This blow hit him hard, and he spent much
of the following year finding solace in completing the Becker Psalter
(1628, 2nd ed. 1640, rev. and enlarged 1661).
By the end of the 1620s, Dresden was beginning to feel the effects
of the Thirty Years’ War. In 1628, leaving his two daughters in the
care of their maternal grandmother, Schütz traveled a second time to
Venice to study the styles then in vogue. Though it is clear that he
mastered Claudio Monteverdi’s concertato style during this visit,
it has not been established that he actually studied with Monteverdi
in person. In 1629 he returned to Germany, but not before publishing
Symphoniae sacrae, a collection of small-scale Latin-texted mono-
dies and sacred concertos for solo voices and instruments (1629, 20
works). More compositions in a similar vein followed, their smaller
dimensions no doubt influenced by the deprivations of the war: Sym-
phoniae Sacrae (vol. 1, 1629, 20 works to Latin texts; vol. 2, 1647,
27 works to German texts) and Kleine Geistliche Conzerte (vol. 1,
1636, 24 works; vol. 2, 1639, 32 works). In vol. 3 of Symphonie
Sacrae (1650, 21 works to German texts), he revisited the large-scale
Venetian concerto for solo voices and instruments.
Other important works include the Musicalische Exequien (1636),
a funeral service in three parts (a German burial service for solo
voices and chorus employing scriptural and chorale texts, a double-
choir motet on verses from Psalm 73, and the German Nunc Dimittis
juxtaposed with scriptural texts sung by a three-voice choir “in the
distance”), three Passions (St. Matthew, St. Luke, and St. John, c.
1664–66), and two additional oratorios: Die sieben Wortte (c. 1645)
and Historia der . . . Geburt Gottes und Marien Sohnes, Jesu Christi
(1664). A volume of motets in the stile antico, for five, six, and seven
voices, reminiscent of the 1625 publication, was issued in 1648 as
Geistliche Chor-Music (29 works). Among his final works are Zwölff
geistliche Gesänge (1657) and the lengthy motet composed in antici-
pation of his death, a setting of Psalm 119 for double chorus (1671).
With the exception of two extended visits to Copenhagen in 1633
and 1642, Schütz spent almost the entirety of his career in service to the
Dresden court. Though war and its attendant lingering economic hard-
ship forced him to leave a substantial number of his works unpublished,
SCHÜTZ, HEINRICH • 399
his available music ensured an influential legacy in Protestant Germany,
which continued until the time of Johann Sebastian Bach.
SCULTHORPE, PETER (29 APRIL 1929– ). Australian composer. In-
fluenced by East Asian (especially Balinese) music, Australian aborigi-
nal culture, and later by Krzysztof Penderecki, he has developed a na-
tional style that rejects atonality and 12-tone serialism, while employing
a variety of rhythmic procedures and timbres, and elegiac melodies, to
produce vivid, pictorial works. Examples of his choral writing include
Night Piece for mixed chorus and pf. (1966); Sun Music [originally Sun
Music II], for SATB, pf., and perc. (1966); Sea Chant, for unison vv.,
opt. high insts., and perc. (1968, arr. unison vv., and orch., 1975); and
Child of Australia, for spkr., S, chorus, and orch. (1988).
SECOND PRACTICE (SECONDA PRATICA). See MADRIGAL;
MONTEVERDI, CLAUDIO.
SECOND VIENNESE SCHOOL. A generalization usually under-
stood to refer to the group of composers who studied with Arnold
Schoenberg, adopting 12-tone serial composition. The term implies
that these composers were building on the legacy of Joseph Haydn,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and later
Austro-German composers.
SELLE, THOMAS (23 MARCH 1599–2 JULY 1663). German
composer. After studying at the University of Leipzig, he held vari-
ous positions in northwest Germany before being appointed in 1641
as the civic director of church music in Hamburg and the Kantor at
the Johanneum. His vocal ensemble compositions include, above all,
more than 280 sacred works to Latin and German texts, employing
the various forms of his day. His St. Matthew Passion (1642) is the
earliest known setting to incorporate obbligato instruments (which
accompany the voice of Christ and the Evangelist), while the second
of his two St. John settings (1643) was the first to include instrumen-
tal interludes. Selle is also noted for writing a manual of vocal peda-
gogy, Kurtze doch grüntliche Anleitung zur Singekunst (c. 1642).
SENFL, LUDWIG (C. 1486–C. 1543). Swiss-born church musician,
composer, and editor, active in the court chapel of Emperor Maximil-
ian I (1496–1519), where he eventually succeeded Heinrich Isaac
as court composer (1517), then in the chapel of Duke Wilhelm of
400 • SCULTHORPE, PETER
Bavaria in Munich (from 1523 until his death). Probably a student of
Isaac, he copied and eventually completed Isaac’s Choralis Constan-
tinus. He was an influential representative of the Franco-Flemish
polyphonic style in German-speaking Europe, praised by musicians,
theoreticians, and scholars alike.
Among Senfl’s many surviving works are 7 masses (mostly for
four voices), a Magnificat cycle (one for each mode), more than 150
Proper settings, some 70 Vespers settings, 125 other motets, more
than 250 German Lieder (most of them for four voices and almost all
to secular texts—some of them arrangements of popular songs), 40
Latin odes, and a few other pieces to Italian, French, and Latin texts.
His motet-like works (which almost invariably employ Latin texts)
imitate the polyphonic style of Josquin des Prez and Isaac, in some
cases even borrowing their cantus firmi. Nevertheless, they maintain
succinct structures, allowing the text to be presented clearly. Other
characteristics of his works include rich sonorities and songlike lines
(which often move in parallel thirds or sixths). His Latin odes, which
explore classical meters in strict homophony, were widely used in
schools during the 16th century.
SEPOLCRO [AZIONE SACRA, RAPPRESENTAZIONE SA-
CRA]. A short, oratorio-like setting of the Passion account in the
Italian language, usually performed dramatically, the main element
of the scenery being the a replica of Christ’s sepulcher. The genre
was popular in Vienna during the later 1600s.
SEQUENCE. In the Roman Catholic liturgy, a type of Latin hymn. A
medieval accretion to the Proper of the Mass, it was sung after the
Alleluia in the liturgy, until the 16th century, when the Council of
Trent (1542–63) disallowed all sequences except Victimae paschali
laudes for Easter, Veni Sancte Spiritus for Pentecost, Lauda Sion for
Corpus Christi, and Dies irae for Requiem masses. One other, the
Stabat mater, was reinstated in 1727.
SERENATA. An 18th-century dramatic work, lying somewhere
between a cantata and an opera in length, often on a pastoral, alle-
gorical, or mythological subject. It was usually performed as private
courtly entertainment, often outdoors at night, aided by artificial
light. Movements that are labeled coro are usually intended for an
ensemble of principals rather than for a chorus per se.
SERENATA • 401