Johann Hermann Schein Biography

Schein was a German poet and musician who wrote numerous secular and sacred works for the voice. All of his secular vocal works were composed to texts of his own doing. Schein trained in the Dresden court and studied at Schulpforta and Leipzig. He was also the Kapellmeister at the court in Weimar, later becoming the Kantor of St. Thomas' in Leipzig. He composed approximately four hundred sacred works in five different volumes. The first was part of the "Opella nova" in 1618. It was primarily written as sacred concertos with continuo and was one of the earliest and most important examples in Germany of this kind of music. "Opella nova," the second part, was published in 1626, and Schein employed the use of fewer chorales and more obbligato instruments than in his other works. In 1615 Schein published "Cymbalum Sionium" which was a collection of motets centering on biblical texts, some in German and some in Latin. A great deal of variety characterized this collection. His next set of sacred works were sacred madrigals, "Israelis Brunlein," which were composed in the Italian fashion. Most of the texts were from the Old Testament and set for five voices. The phrasing of the textual data in this collection was undertaken with great concern. The fifth collection, "Cantional," was a hymnbook published in 1627. It was arranged in four part harmony with the melody in the soprano voice which had become a standard Lutheran practice. Other than the sacred vocal music Schein also composed approximately ninety secular vocal pieces. Some of his three part settings are contained in the collection "Musica boscareccia" (1621-1628). Instrumentally Schein also composed twenty variation suites contained in the volume entitled "Banchetto musicale." ~ Keith Johnson, All Music Guide