Biography
Schein, a German poet and musician, produced a large number of vocal compositions in both secular and sacred genres. Every one of his secular vocal compositions drew upon texts that he himself had written. His training took place at the Dresden court, followed by studies at Schulpforta and in Leipzig. He served first as Kapellmeister at the Weimar court before taking the position of Kantor at St. Thomas' in Leipzig. Around four hundred sacred pieces appeared across five separate volumes. The initial volume formed part of the "Opella nova" from 1618. This publication consisted chiefly of sacred concertos accompanied by continuo and ranked among the earliest and most significant instances of such music in Germany. The second installment of "Opella nova" came out in 1626, featuring fewer chorales together with a greater number of obbligato instruments compared to his remaining output. Schein brought forth "Cymbalum Sionium" in 1615, a compilation of motets based on biblical texts written variously in German and Latin. Considerable diversity marked the contents of this compilation. His subsequent sacred output took the shape of madrigals titled "Israelis Brunlein," fashioned after the Italian manner. The majority of the texts originated in the Old Testament and received settings for five voices. Within this collection the phrasing of the textual data received meticulous attention. The fifth collection, titled "Cantional," appeared as a hymnbook in 1627. It presented four-part harmonies with the melody placed in the soprano line, an approach that had by then established itself as standard Lutheran procedure. Apart from his sacred vocal music, Schein produced roughly ninety secular vocal compositions. A portion of his three-voice settings appears in the volumes of "Musica boscareccia" issued between 1621 and 1628. On the instrumental side he created twenty variation suites collected under the title "Banchetto musicale."