Motettisches und madrigalisches Prinzip in der geistlichen Musik der Schütz-Zeit: Monteverdi, Schütz, Schein

Abstract

The controversy surrounding Monteverdi's seconda pratica was sparked not by the new genre of monody, but by the madrigal. Although the contrapuntal tradition of the madrigal challenged the innovations of the seconda pratica, these were only able to exert their historical influence on composition through the madrigal. Thus Monteverdi created a synthesis between the polyphonic idiom of the madrigal and the new chordal style, and used it in his sacred music as well. Schütz did not take up the chordal style; his Italian madrigals—Il primo libro de madrigali (Venezia, 1611)—are in motet style (they are his secular choral music, as he himself pointed out). Apparently, the purity of contrapuntal writing and its possibilities for nuance and differentiation were what led Schütz to remain true to the principle of the motet throughout his life. In a way, Schein seems to mediate between these poles, particularly in his madrigal collection Fontana d'Israel... (Leipzig, 1623).