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Meine Seele erhebt den Herren by Thomas Selle
In 1599, in Bitterfeld, a small town due north of Leipzig, Thomas Selle was born. When still a child, he moved to the big city to study at the Thomasschule, and later at Leipzig University. He was taught and/or mentored by two Thomaskantors: Sethus Calvisius (served 1594-1615) and Johann Hermann Schein (served 1615 to 1630). By 1624, he had moved to northwest Germany, where he served in several positions before securing the job of musical director at the Johanneum, Hamburg. He died in 1663 in Hamburg.

Have any of you heard of him? I hadn't until recently, at last not more than as a name on a list of German composers. But (as it turns out) he was a wonderful composer, and very prolific. Between 1646 and 1653, he created a manuscript set of partbooks of all his works to date; these numbered 281, including three passions. (And he still had ten years to live.)

This is seemingly always happening to me: A composer I've never heard of (or just barely) suddenly becomes my new favorite composer. I like it--early music is like a huge, marvelous mountain range which we can explore to our hearts' content, knowing that we will never exhaust all that it has to offer.

The work that got me interested in Selle is today's project, his German Magnificat. I came across it on a nice CD by the Vocalensemble Rastatt and Les Favorites. It immediately jumped out at me, and I began searching for a score. There was nothing out there in the usual places (cpdl.org, imslp.org, etc); and then I found it at Carus Music. BUT they required purchase of a minimum 20 copies! Eventually I went to UC Berkeley, where they had an old edition from which I created the scan attached.

The piece is based upon the tonus peregrinus, the so-called ninth psalm tone. This will be familiar to some of you as the soaring oboe line over the women's trio 'Suscepit Israel' in Bach's 'Magnificat'. It's not a coincidence: Fairly early on, this psalm tone was used for and associated with Luther's translation of the Magnificat, 'Meine Seele erhebt den Herren'.

In Selle's setting, the psalm tone is present in each verse. Most of the verses begin with a soloistic elaboration of the psalm tone; and each verse ends with a powerful six-part fauxbourdon (homophonic) setting with the psalm tone in the second soprano part.
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What is great--even magical--is the alternation between textures and styles. The soloistic passages are sprightly  and imaginative, with quick interactions and flourishes, and lots of word-painting; while the six-part conclusions to each section are solemn and stately. And the psalm-tone holds it all together.

The instruments mainly double the choir, but occasionally (for example, at the beginning) provide extra pizzazz as needed.

Attached are the score and the recording noted above. There is no text/translation sheet, since I transcribed the translation into the score so you can fully appreciate Selle's responsiveness to the text.

Happy listening and singing! And may you have a happy weekend, even in the midst of all the stress and anxiety.
Download Score
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