Zu Heinrich Schütz' weltlichem Konzert 'Ach, wie soll ich doch in Freuden leben' (SWV 474) : 1. Zwei Tabulatur-Quellen für die Liedvorlage

Abstract

Schütz's secular concerto Ach wie soll ich doch in Freuden leben, SWV 474, has been regarded up to now as a free text setting. Actually, it is the arrangement of a song documented in two previously overlooked manuscript sources, a lute book in the Gesamthochschulbibliothek in Kassel and a song collection in the Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv in Aurich. These sources also permit a reliable reconstruction of the concerto, which has come down to us with three parts missing. Stylistic evaluation of the concerto based on the latest state of the sources confirms that SWV 474 is the earliest extant composition by Schütz.