Szenen in Zelenka’s vespers psalm settings

Abstract

Of all liturgical texts, the psalms (especially those required for Vespers) might be considered among the texts ideally suited for the study required to identify themes and topoi of Baroque music. At specific points of settings of certain psalm texts, Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) includes a section whose musical-dramatic plan is built upon smaller musicalrhetorical gestures. In these sections, or Szenen, Zelenka appears to have followed an established tradition since, beginning with Monteverdi, extraordinarily similar patterns are evident at precisely these points in the settings of a great many composers. Places at which common traditions of setting occur are at verses 5, 6, and 7 of the ..