Behold, how good and pleasant

SSATB, Ctto muto (Vl), Vl (Fl trav), Fg (Vne), Bc

Heinrich Schütz’s setting of Psalm 133 was composed for the wedding of his “amiable and much-loved” brother Georg Schütz which took place on 9 August 1619 in St Nicholas’s Church in Leipzig. With its colorful instrumental accompaniment, this intimate composition may be regarded as one of the most charming works of its time. At the same time it is probably the first work by Schütz which gives us a sense of the concertante style of the Symphoniae sacrae I which were to follow.