Isabel Schicketanz - Seelentrost (2025)

Music history is full of “goosebump moments” – those instances when sounds get up right close to us, penetrating our most secret enclaves and striking a chord with something inside. Sometimes it’s a big, opulent orchestral sound or the energy of a pop concert with thousands of people. But most often, it’s actually the moments of extreme reduction, almost to an essence of the sound, that touch body and soul in such a way that leaves us still thinking about them weeks or months later. When musicians go into this sort of reduction, making themselves vulnerable in the most extreme concentration of artistic resources, the aura of the extraordinary shines through. One such moment, for example, comes in Bach’s famous St. Matthew Passion, shortly before Jesus cries out with the last of his strength: “My God, why have you forsaken me?!” And then an alto voice rises, “Ach, Golgatha”, revealing something like the core message of this Bach work and the theme: “this reaches my soul!”

This scene in Bach is a late example from an epoch of musical exploration of the soul. Just in passing, we could mention that in Grimm’s Dictionary, the largest German compendium of knowledge and language in the early modern period, there are over 2,000 words that can be formed around the term for soul (Seele): Seelendiät (sustenance for the soul), Seelenfieber (soul fever), Seelenherzchen (a term of endearment, like sweetheart), Seelengewitter (an emotional outburst), Seelenmelodie (melody of the soul), Seelenmut (soul courage), or Seelenwürze (soul spice, which referred to the ability to spice up life with imagination) – and of course Seelentrost, soul comfort. In her debut CD, Isabel Schicketanz takes us by the hands and leads us into this musical exploration of the soul. She brings us to the sources of a very particular sound, where we find songs united by a common concern: comforting the soul.

Loneliness, shock, mourning, fear – and comfort, contact, love: during the Baroque period in the 17th and 18th centuries, these are musical leitmotifs. They are examined in innumerable variations on the term ‘soul’. This ‘something’, the existence of which, at least during the pre-Enlightenment Baroque, was unchallenged; this ‘something’ called the soul, which in songs, chants and concerti usually ends up in distress. Themes straight out of life find expression directly in the music: existential angst, illness, the omnipresence of death, war…

Just as the world around 1600 was changing at a breakneck pace, thinking and feeling was similarly evolving at the time which Isabel Schicketanz’s programme invites us to immerse ourselves in. And this word ‘immerse’ leads us already into the centre of this shift in thought: from science (the heliocentric system), to philosophy (Descartes “cogito, ergo sum”) to the arts, a change in consciousness occurred and human beings, in all their psychological and physical dimensions, became immensely more significant. The arts, painting and music above all, proved themselves to be media with which to explore humanity in depth – our inner constitution, feelings, thoughts, hopes and fears. The audiovisual arts were particularly in demand too, because a majority of the European population was illiterate. Although there were already popular Trostbüchlein(little books of consolation – collections of worldly wisdom) and collections of prayers for spiritual amusement, the book had not yet become a mass or leading medium. What results is that the visual arts dramatically became realistic and almost obsessively depicted human life, from both its good and evil sides. Music, on the other hand, was primarily able to act in two fundamental ways: by overwhelming or through empathy. In music, unlike painting, the life experiences during this crisis lead less to a heightened realism, but rather prompt us to follow the effects of outer life on inner experience. And a unique sound of inner life emerges.

Music of the (early) Baroque evokes sympathy, provides opportunities for identification and serves as a vehicle for moral or religious teaching. And finally, the Baroque musical ‘exploration of the soul’ as a soundtrack of life can and intends to give support, comfort and strength. Soprano Isabel Schicketanz’s recording displays this impressively. It is a compilation of towering works from the 17th century, such as the almost existential scream “Eile, mich, Gott zu erretten” (“Hurry, God, to rescue me”) by Heinrich Schütz. The programme reaches further, though, into what we would today call cultural breadth: works by composers who moved in illustrious court circles, but also had an eye for everyday cultural life in larger and smaller towns. The works are moving and tenderly formed – valuable discoveries from the practically overflowing treasure trove of central German culture – by composers such as Heinrich Albert, Johann Theile, Matthias Weckmann or David Pohle. The common link between these men is that they were all students of Heinrich Schütz. Not only did the Dresden court Kapellmeister fuel musical progress in central Europe through his compositions; as teacher, mentor, appraiser and advocate, he equally served to bring the future of music on its way.

If the names connected to the vibrant culture of about 350 years ago are for the most part familiar only to specialists and enthusiasts – although encyclopedia articles, published scores and occasional recordings do at least exist – Sophie Elisabeth (1613-1676) is probably completely unknown. Though there may be a chance she is familiar to historians, as she became Duchess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. But this Sophie Elisabeth was also an expert in the arts and learned composition from Heinrich Schütz, whom she had met in Dresden in 1638. In Wolfenbüttel, she created a remarkable variety of songs and musical comedies. And other than music, her dramas, poetry, libretti, translations and devotional literature have been passed down. It is a great credit to Isabel Schicketanz that she broadens her perspective from the still narrow focus on a masculine cultural history and includes these gems by Sophie Elisabeth in her programme conception. They are songs from the Duchess’ personal hymn book, touching in their simplicity. This world premiere recording finally brings a few of these songs to our ears.

Speaking of programme conception: with the works on this recording, Isabel Schicketanz takes a path that first leads us listeners into darkness, letting us explore the shadow regions of the soul. A second group of works, from Heinrich Schütz’s “Ich harrete des Herren” (“I waited patiently for the Lord”), portrays a person who lives and loves, who has tasted all aspects of life and can pass on these experiences (of life and faith). The third and final part begins with Heinrich Alberts “Dass alle Menschen sterben” (“That all people die”). The certainty of death is expressed, however, with the promise of coming salvation. A certain serenity can be heard, an inner smile and light that is built on deeper insights into life and the soul.

This musical exploration of the soul is pure and direct. Soprano Isabel Schicketanz proves herself a bold artist, going out into the open, allowing a kind of vulnerability, and thus giving the ‘soul comfort’ room to open, where it can unfold and show itself. With this programme, she takes an approach of concentration and reduction – and It is precisely through this reduction of outer means that a great range of emotions, and yes, insights into life, shine in the nuances and shadings of the music. And then, there they are: the goose-bump moments that reach our souls. (Dr. Oliver Geisler)

Isabel Schicketanz, soprano
Mirjam-Luise Münzel, viola da gamba
Friederike Lehnert, violin
Elisabeth Starke, violin
Alma Stolte, viola da gamba
Tillmann Steinhöfel, violone
Stefan Maass, lute
Sebastian Knebel, harpsichord

TRACKLIST

1. Isabel Schicketanz - Klag- und Trost-Lied: Ich steh in Angst und Pein
2. Isabel Schicketanz - Kleine geistliche Konzerte I, Op. 8: Eile mich, Gott, zu erretten, SWV 282
3. Isabel Schicketanz - Gott hilf mir, denn das Wasser gehet mir bis an die Seele
4. Isabel Schicketanz - Becker Psalter, Op. 5, Ps. 13: Ach Herr, wie lang willst du denn noch, SWV 109
5. Isabel Schicketanz - Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott, SWV 447
6. Isabel Schicketanz - Klag- und Trost-Lied: Ihr Seelen, die Ihr durch den Tod
7. Isabel Schicketanz - Becker Psalter, Op. 5, Ps. 40: Ich harrete des Herren, SWV 137
8. Isabel Schicketanz - Toccata in D Minor
9. Isabel Schicketanz - Becker Psalter, Op. 5, Ps. 103: Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren, SWV 201
10. Isabel Schicketanz - Vinetum evangelicum: An Gott recht gläuben
11. Isabel Schicketanz - Klag- und Trost-Lied: Wohl dem, der sich nur lässt
12. Isabel Schicketanz - Vinetum evangelicum: Mein Augen will ich immer
13. Isabel Schicketanz - Ich hebe meine Augen auf
14. Isabel Schicketanz - ChristFürstliches Davids-Harpfen-Spiel: Gott lässet seine Sonn
15. Isabel Schicketanz - Die Seele Christi heilige mich
16. Isabel Schicketanz - Klag- und Trost-Lied: Wie ist der Mensch doch so betört
17. Isabel Schicketanz - Salve mi Jesu
18. Isabel Schicketanz - Canzon
19. Isabel Schicketanz - Arien: Ein Freund, ein Trunk, ein Leib, ein Sprung
20. Isabel Schicketanz - Arien: Wer lieben kann, der nehm es an
21. Isabel Schicketanz - Klag- und Trost-Lied: Dass alle Menschen sterben
22. Isabel Schicketanz - Klag- und Trost-Lied: Raffet auch der Tod
23. Isabel Schicketanz - ChristFürstliches Davids-Harpfen-Spiel: Ach Jesu, meiner Seele Wonne
24. Isabel Schicketanz - ChristFürstliches Davids-Harpfen-Spiel: Verlangen nach Gott
25. Isabel Schicketanz - ChristFürstliches Davids-Harpfen-Spiel: Morgen Lied
26. Isabel Schicketanz - Teütscher Villanellen, Theil 1: Jetzung kömpt die Nacht herbei
27. Isabel Schicketanz - Arien: Der Liebe Macht herrscht Tag und Nacht