Zur literaturgeschichtlichen Situation in Dresden 1627 : Überlegungen im Hinblick auf die "Dafne"-Oper von Schütz und Opitz

Abstract

Many of Schütz's works are connected to events such as births, weddings, or deaths of members of his own social class or of higher-ranking classes. Such commemorative music was coordinated with activities of writers and artists, producing a complex network of interrelationships which can only be elucidated in an interdisciplinary manner. The relations between Schütz, Johann Seusse, August Buchner, and Martin Opitz are of special significance for the events of 1627. It seems that the court might actually not have commissioned the opera Dafne, but merely allowed its performance; this can be inferred from a report drawn up for the court of Darmstadt, which has been consulted here for the first time (and reproduced in the appendix). By involving Opitz in the project, Schütz and his friends in Saxony may have hoped to obtain a position for him at the court of Dresden.